Nigeria goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi has penned a new two-year deal with Absa Premiership club Kaizer Chiefs.
Akpeyi’s current deal with Kaizer Chiefs was set to come to an end on June 30 but the Amakhosi have now moved to ensure he remain at the club by offering him a new two-year contract.
The 33-year-old has been a pivotal part of Amakhosi’s run that has them topping the Absa Premiership table with a 10-point lead after 19 games.
The Nigerian international joined the club from Chippa United in January last year on a one-and-a-half year deal, and will now remain a Glamour Boy until June 2022.
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“We are pleased to announce that goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi🦁 who joined Chiefs in January 2019 has earned himself a two-year contract extension to June 2022. #Amakhosi4Life,”reads a tweet on the club’s Twitter handle.
Akpeyi had a shaky start to his career at Naturena, and his first six months at the club were met with huge criticism as some fans wanted the club to release him.
However, he proved his doubters wrong this term and helped Chiefs top the standings with his fantastic displays in between the sticks.
The lanky shot-stopper has featured 18 times across all competitions for the Glamour Boys thus far, keeping eight clean sheets and conceding 15 goals in the process.
By Adeboye Amosu
24 Comments
Nice
I really wish you the best in your two-year contract extension. Keep praying (we just heard you are the prayer warrior in the Super eagles camp)and working hard.God has lifted you inspite of media assassinations!Good luck,Dan!
Congrats uncle Dan,but please allow young boys to prove their worth,if not for those lazy locals keepers in Nigeria league this man would have said good bye since
This young man really proved doubters wrong (including myself). Infact I am eating my words now. I may not be his fan, but the way he has grown in leaps and bounds since AFCON deserves some commendation…..Wining his club player of the month 2ce and the entire league’s player of the month once too
For Kaizer Cheifs to keep their own club-groomed SA national team no1 goalkeeper on the bench while extending his contract for another 2 years speaks alot. And the simple truth is that he remains the best performing Nigerian goalkeeper playing top flight football anywhere in the world and will keep getting invited whether anyone likes it or not. 8 clean sheets in 18 top flight matches isn’t a bad return, no matter what dimension anyone wants to look at it from.
Congrats on your new deal o. Abeg for the good of mankind, come and prove us wrong in the national team too.
Congratulations to you Akpayi. I’m so happy for you. It is time to say goodbye to the Super Eagles.
I won’t put the blame on you but on coach Rohr and coach Agu. This is why I scored coach Average and while I scored Mr. Agu Poor. NFF are not helping the situation though.
It is time for Osage, Uzoho, Okoye and others to step up. God bless Nigeria!!!
So coach Rohr is to blame for his newfound form or for the new 2 yr deal he has just earned for himself through hardwork…?
You may be right you know, Okoye needs to step up from conceding 26 goals in 13 appearances and just 1 clean sheet in the 4th division in Germany While Sebastian Osigwe need to step up from conceding 24 goals in 16 appearances in the Swiss 2nd division.
But while they are still stepping up, if you like nak your head for ogiri oko, Akpeyi will still man the SE if he keep his current form. Even Amotekun can not do anything about it…LMAO
ire o…!
Lol@ drey……I like that word “amotekun “……lol….
Oga Drey,
You will soon be accused of plagiarism.
Ire…o!
Akpeyesque by nature….Akpeyi has dumbfounded everyone including myself with his recent performances. I hope this is not some elaborate South African propaganda to deceive us Nigerians ooooo, LOL! This same Akpeyi that raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels when in goal for Nigeria, this same Akpeyi that “presented” the ball to Aguero of all people after handling the ball nonchalantly outside our box in our last friendly with Argentina, is now the talk of the town in South Africa? Even benching their number one keeper Itumeleng Khune? Well, let’s give credit where it is due. Akpeyi has done well. Let’s hope he continues this rich vein of form in the Nigeria jersey.
Ooooh boy my brother@ Pompeii, na for corner of my window,I dey spy this Akpeyeques performance o. E don cause me to zip up. Na only person wey truth no dey in life go deny say Akpeyeques no deserve SE shirt. Infact the older the keeper the better, times have proven. This is just how to shut down critics. Maduka, Osigwe are good goal keepers but for the future. Akpeyeques, Uzoho are the best presently.
Uzoho remains the number goal keeper of the SuperEagles whenever he’s fully fit and playing regular top flight football anywhere in the world. For now Akpeyi remains the best bet as long he keeps this current form and keep performing. Hopefully he can carry this form to the SuperEagles in our next qualifiers. Osigwe and Okoye will continue to learn, but I’m afraid conceding too many goals in the 4th tier of the German and second tier of the Swiss league is not too encouraging. Hopefully they continue to improve. For now Akpeyi remains the best bet in goal.
Well Congrats..but my fear for him is that he has his Territory.
Just like Victor Moses, play him against any African Team, He’ll turn to new Jayjay but against non African Team, He’ll be falling as if they are stronger than we Africans.
Akpeyi has been performing well even when he was with chippa United. That was why they (Keizer Chiefs) signed him but call for Super Eagles duty, millions of Nigerians will be admitted in the hospital cos of Heart Attack.
I just pray he continues this way but for me, whenever I remembere Uzoho’s performances against Brazil and Ukraine, something within my head tells me Akpeyi cannot keep those matches. Uzoho to me…is still the best we have.
Akpayi is not the best Nigeria always have. Can any mentioned when this Akpayi manned the post for Nigeria with full confidence?
Even now, can you boldly say he won’t be shaky again in green and white green? Enough of this Akpayi. God bless Nigeria!!!
Akpayi is not the best Nigeria have. Can anyone mentioned when this Akpayi manned the post for Nigeria with full confidence?
Even now that Akpayi is Nigeria world class goalie, can you boldly say he won’t be shaky again in green and white green? Enough of this Akpayi. Our coaches deserved not to
be praised because Nigeria have good goalkeepers everywhere. Nigeria deserves better than this. God bless Nigeria!!!
AKPEYI! AKPEYI !! AKPEYI!!!. Very soon you will claim that you make your comments without insulting people. What a grand insult this is! Will this man’s mother be happy that her son’s name has been changed to A-K-P-A-Y-I, which may mean something else? Give us a break.
I never did and I promised not to do so. Don’t blame me for that but CSN. I didn’t see that until now. Edit botton is needed. I meant to say Akpeyi not Akpayi.
Thanks for your observation @Achi. God bless Nigeria!!!
You lie alot bro…no make me vex for u abeg
This isn’t your first time of spelling that name as AKPAYI….or u mean to say u make d mistake every time without noticing ….u come dey shift blame on top CSN…no make me vex o
Hahahaha…are you just knowing Omo9ja…? Even Lucifer respects him when it comes to lieing and changing mouth when the tables are turning against him…lmao.
Despite the fact that comments made on CSN cannot be deleted and are easily traceable, omo9ja still always has such awesomely astonishing bravery to deny comments he previously made. Lol.
Hehehehehe….Nigeria has good goalkeepers everywhere…..oya name them na. Lmao.
Name the 3 enyeamas, 4 shorunmus and 7 Rufias that we have scattered all around the world and churning out outstanding performances weekly at the moment.
Name the goalkeepers we have who have kept clean sheets in half of the matches they’ve played so far. Name the goalkeepers who have a less than 1.0 goals conceeded per match this season.
Name your good goalkeepers everywhere who have won the best player of the month award in their clubs 2ce and best player in their entire leagues 1ce already in the first half of the season.
Name the better goalkeepers whose team are on top of their leagues and are about to win the league after a long trophy drought. Or is it just a coincidence that it’s the season when Akpeyi is first choice for the club that they end their trophy drought…?
Name the better goalkeepers who have saved 4 penalties in open play this season and are currently benching the club & country’s captain and no 1 goalkeeper. Or you think it is easy to bench Pickford at Everton or Donarruma at AC Milan or Neuer at Bayern Munich…?
If Akpeyi was shaky and lacked confidence he wouldn’t have all these accolades. If he used to be shaky before it only means he is not shaky again. We don’t know of tomorrow, but currently and based on current form, Akpeyi is still the best performing Nigerian goalkeeper on the face of the earth. Even the devil cannot dispute that as a matter of fact.
And trust Rohr to always invite players based on current form and not past glory or mistakes. If as a coach if you don’t invite a goalkeeper with such stats to the national team, is it the 19year old who has conceeded 26goals in 13 matches in the 4th division you want to invite ahead of him…? What will be your justification…? No even at a time when our defacto 1st choice is out injured in the long-term.
You were always shouting afelokai before as if he was an electromagnet until d boy chop 6 for Togo hand. That was when you suddenly lost your voice….LMAO. Talk is cheap, it is always so easy to drop names. Na who don go battle front dey know as e be, nor be who dey barrack dey play draught. Lolz
Stop being a hater and let Akpeyi be. He who God blesses let no man curse. The young man is working hand, let him reap the fruits of his labour….otherwise what you want to deny him will be denied you too,for the measure you give is the measure you shall recieve.
@Omo9ja your use of English is disastrous. Please grow up for the sake of your children.
Goalkeeping is a “confidence” position, it is no surprise that he is doing well at Kaiser chiefs, he has been embraced by the fans there and they sing his praises at every given opportunity, he has won them over and he draws confidence from the fans, knowing that they will not turn on him in an instant.
Contrast this with the way a section of Nigerian fans take every opportunity to boo him, to abuse him and call for his head. His every facial expression interpreted as showing a lack of confidence. Daniel Akpeyi knows that nothing he will do will be good enough to convince that section of Nigerian fans and its no wonder he is seen as jittery, seen as “not good enough”.
The relationship with Nigerian fans is complex. They are hounding Gernot Rohr, grossly unfairly I might add because he has not done badly, they are hounding Daniel Akpeyi, they hounded Odion Ighalo so much so that a player who scored the most goals in qualifying for AFCOn and in the AFCON proper decided enough is enough and walked away.
I am not saying that we don’t talk about when they are not performing, nor when they miss a sitter or make a mistake, but the manner of condemnation, looks like being in an abusive relationship.
Let us learn to praise unreservedly when appropriate and not lace a celebration with negative comments. News of his good work in Kaiser Chiefs, benching who was one of the best goalkeepers in Africa in their own country is no mean feat. There is no need for a comment like “Say goodbye to Nigeria” or “he is not the best”.
learn undiluted praise when appropriate, it is not hard
I love the beautiful points @BigD and @Dr.Drey have made. As usual, just as some other brilliant analysts here, they’ve highlighted other angles or loopholes that others tend to gloss over or overlook.
But there’s something else I’ll like to point attention to: And that is the impact of a club or personal coach in turning around the performance, confidence-level and therefore fortune of a player. In the case of Akpeyi, we need to give credit to Baxter Jnr., the British-born goalkeeper trainer and son of Stuart Baxter at Kaizer Chiefs FC. We’ve also seen the amazing impacts he’s had on Khune and Bvuma.
I don’t really think that Akpeyi wasn’t good (we’ve seen him made point-blank saves that could have beaten Uzoho or even Enyeama). What I think is that he was too afraid of making mistakes and fan criticism. It was a morbid, deathly fear that seriously affected his confidence and performance – And it got worse after that Aguero blip in the pre-workd cup friendly. Rohr wasn’t pleased either. But what could he do? Alloy AGU – an NFF employee – wasn’t doing his job well.
Compare that to Enyeama who will conceed goal with swagger as if it was nothing, put on a bold face and was always pushing his team forward so much so he was made the captain. Akpeyi hardly organises or communicates with his defence men, not to talk of shouting at and pushing the midfielders or attackers.
I think it was MOSTLY a simple matter of PSYCHOLOGY and all of that has changed now, thanks to Baxter Jnr. Which makes me ask again: WHAT REALLY DOES ALLOY AGU DO IN THE SE SET-UP? He needs to be changed!
Sometimes, all a player needs is to move to a club or team with a coach who has the capacity, competence and belief in him and BOOM! He’s a fantastic player everyone loves.
We’ve had goalkeeper crisis in the past, but it’s not been this bad. I don’t think it’s been Rohr’s or Akoeyi’s fault. I think AGU is not up to scratch. Dernerby had to get a goalkeeper trainer from Sweden and we saw what was done with the young goalie, Chinasom or something. I know Rohr has a goalkeeper trainer, but does he take charge or AGU does? Was AGU imposed on Rohr?
@ Kel.
Thumbs up to you.
I love ur analysis, especially that ….Enyeama who will conceed goal with swagger…part. lolz.
True true, enyeama will conceed goal and you will be looking forward to him conceeding another one just to see that sly smile on his face. Lolz.
As for Rohr’s Nigerian assistants, of course it’s not a secret he didn’t select them by himself. They are NFF appointees, and that’s why he had to bring his own team of backroom staff and pay them (I’m talking of the likes of Agali, Adelakun and those 2 other oyinbos) from the ‘little’ NFF pays him (albeit with so much drama and noise).
And that is why we have been crying on this forum, “competence over sentiments”. After all Aloy Agu is also a member of the 94 squad and we aren’t seeing anything tangible from him in terms of competence or output.
Well done guys,I have been reading comments. We should not be carried away by his success in Club level,no doubt he is a good goal keeper but lack self confidence when it comes to National Team.
will I say he doesnt believe in himself or he’s doing it intentionally.
Take a look at the goals he conceived in last Afcon,he never made an attempt always falling on the floor,the same against Lesotho.
Some of those goals were too cheap for him,I remembered how it took Lionel Messi to score Vincent Enyeama after several Attempts from the argentine
Imagine if it was Akpeyi,what will have happened?
If he is good enough,let him go to Europe.
Akpeyi not good for National Team,even the Free kick Mahrez took,some goal keeper will punch it.
I think he lacks self discipline,and trainning,maybe he doesnt watch his video of previous matches or he doesnt listen to instruction.
Ezenwa far better,Uzoroh Better.
Akpeyi should not mount the goal for Nigeria ooooo
Go and watch the highlight of Lesotho Game,u will understand what i mean.