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Shola Ameobi

Shola Ameobi was spooted at the age of 13 at the WalkersCentral Youth Team in Newcastle and after initally struggling to come to terms with Premiership football he soon excelled.

Making his debut against Chelsea in September 2000 he made 22 appearances that season, mostly due to injuries to first choice pairing Alan Shearer and Carl Cort.

Shola soon made himself a regular in the Newcastle United team, in the 2001/2002 he helped the club to a 4th place finish in the Premier League and was a key figure during the teams 2002/2003 Champions League campaign, scoring goals against the likes of FC Barcelona and Beyer Leverkusen.

When Glenn Roeder took charge as manager in February 2006, Newcastle were 15th in the Premier League and Roeder had 15 games to save the club, a job made harder due to injury to key players Alan Shearer and Michael Owen. However, Shola scored nine times during these fifteen games and Newcastle finished 7th.

The next season his goals in the Intertoto Cup against Lillestrom made him Newcastle's 2nd highest European goalscorer, but during that season he required a hip operation that he had been putting off for two years to help out his club. He missed two months due to the operation.

Ameobi has rarely featured under Sam Allardyce who took charge shortly after Shola's comeback.

 

 

Info

Full name: Foluwashola Ameobi
DOB: 12th October 1981
Place of Birth: Zaria, Nigeria
Height: 6ft 2in
Position: Striker
Signed from: Youth Academy
Date signed: 1st July 1995
Debut: 9th September 2000 v Chelsea

Facts

Shola is 2nd in Newcastle's all time top European goalscorers.

Although born in Nigeria, Shola is of dual nationality and has been capped for England at U21 level.

Shola's younger brothers are Tomi (playing for Leeds United) and Sammy (in Newcastle's youth academy).