Nigerian football stars across the globe enjoyed some level of success with their national team and their respective club sides.
Although they had a bad outing at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia after crashing out of the tournament at the group stage following their failure to beat Argentina in their last meeting.
However, some of them made certain move which progressed their careers while others made impacts scoring goals that helped their teams remain in the leagues.
The Super Eagles regrouped after their early ouster from the global football showpiece this summer – going four match unbeaten run in their AFCON 2019 qualification process.
Legit.ng takes a look at five best Nigerian stars who were at their bests in the outgoing calendar year –
1. Odion Ighalo – He had a very poor outing at the 2018 World Cup in Russia following his failure to find the back of the net.
The 29-year-old scored 21 goals with one assist in 28 appearances for his Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai.
His double figure tally were however not enough to rescue them from relegating at the end of this year’s CSL.
Ighalo also netted five times in three matches for the Super Eagles in their campaign to participate in the 2019 AFCON tourney.
2. Ahmed Musa – He was the most outstanding Nigerian star at the World Cup owing to the brace he scored against Iceland in their second group match.
His performance at the tournament helped him secure a move to Al Nassr in the Saudi Arabian league.
He has since then scored five goals and four assists at his new club after dumping Leicester City in the summer.
3. Alex Iwobi – The 22-year-old’s game has greatly improved under new Arsenal manager Unai Emery.
The attacker has scored once and created two assists in all competitions for the Gunners, but his impact in the team helped them in their 22 match unbeaten which ended last weekend after visiting Saint Mary’s Stadium.
4. Stephen Odey – The former MFM FC striker joined Swiss topflight side FC Zurich in 2017 and has been impressive for them.
The 20-year-old has scored eight goals and created four assists in all competitions this season – two of those from the Europa League.
Before dumping the Nigeria Professional Football League, he was the second highest goal scorer and continued his impressive run.
5. Junior Lokosa – The 25-year-old joined three time NPFL champions Kano Pillars in 2017 and scored just five goals in the second half of the season.
His second season at the Sani Abacha Stadium was impressive – scoring 18 goals in 20 matches before the league was abruptly ended.
