Shola Ameobi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shola Ameobi | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Foluwashola Ameobi | |
| Date of birth | October 12, 1981 | |
| Place of birth | Zaria, Nigeria | |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Newcastle United | |
| Number | 23 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1995–2000 | Newcastle United | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2000– 2008 |
Newcastle United → Stoke City (loan) |
168 (28) 6 (0) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2000–2003 | England U21 | 20 (7) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Foluwashola 'Shola' Ameobi (born October 12, 1981 in Zaria, Nigeria) is an Anglo-Nigerian football player. He is currently playing for Newcastle United as a centre forward.
He is the older brother of Leeds United striker Tomi Ameobi and Newcastle Youth Squad player Sammiusto Ameobi.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Ameobi started out with the Walker Central Youth Team in Newcastle, for whom he was spotted playing by a Newcastle United scout at the age of thirteen. After initially struggling to come to terms with the standard, Ameobi started to excel and made rapid strides towards the first team. He is currently number 23 at Newcastle.
Ameobi signed for the Newcastle United Academy on July 1, 1995, but did not make his debut for the senior team until five years later, September 9, 2000, in a home game against Chelsea. He made 22 appearances for Newcastle that season, aided by injuries to then first choice strike partnership Alan Shearer and Carl Cort.
His erratic form has earned him some criticism in the past, and although never having been claimed as a prolific goalscorer, his goals to games ratio, up to Christmas 2005 was just 34 goals from 186 Newcastle United appearances, although many of these appearances have been from the substitutes bench. Due to injuries in the latter stages of the 2005-06 campaign Ameobi gained a regular starting place, and the player scored six goals in Newcastle's last twelve Premiership games.
In the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, Ameobi scored twice in Newcastle's away tie at Lillestrøm S.K., taking him to second place in the club's table of leading goalscorers in European competition with twelve goals, behind only Alan Shearer.
During the 2006-07 season, Ameobi needed a hip operation because an injury had been plaguing him for the past two seasons. Newcastle's shortage of match fit First team strikers during in previous season had forced him to be postpone this surgery. This caused his team-mates to reportedly carry him through to the January transfer window when the Magpies could strengthen their striking options[citation needed]. The problem eventually forced Glenn Roeder to send Ameobi for surgery two months before the transfer window, making the 0-0 draw away game to Manchester City his last game and ruling him out for the rest of the season. He had made 13 appearances (three as a substitute) and scored five goals.
Ameobi and the Newcastle medical team reported his hip operation in the U.S. was a success and that the club doctors and medical staff would work on his rehabilitation. It was originally thought that he would not be fit to play until the start of 2007-08 season, but his rehabilitation progressed quickly and he made a shock return with three games remaining in the season, clocking approximately 30 minutes of match action against Reading FC and making a further two appearances.
On 27 March 2008 Ameobi agreed a loan deal with Stoke City until the end of the season, to help their promotion campaign. It is understood that a loan fee of around £500K has been agreed and that a possible permanent transfer has been discussed subject to Stoke winning promotion. However it is said that Ameobi has rejected a possible move, with Stoke chairman stating ' We are not desperate to sign him'. Ameobi made his debut for Stoke against Sheffield Wednesday on March 29, 2008, the game ended 1-1.
At the beginning of June 2008 there was a strong rumour that Newcastle had accepted a bid of £4 million from Championship side Ipswich Town, however nothing has come of this so far.
[edit] Pop Culture
Ameobi is often referred to on "I'm on Setanta Sports", a show on Setanta Sports that stars Jose Mourinho, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Wayne Rooney in puppet form. 'Dave from Newcastle' calls just about every show to ask what Jose thinks about Ameobi, and eventually moves to Stoke and calls from there to ask about Ameobi's new squad. In one episode, Ameobi is for sale on eBay with Jose winning him at the end of the show. In a sit down interview with Rooney, Dave from Stoke (originally Newcastle) admits he has an Ameobi addiction and states that you don't give up Ameobi, but you can manage it.
[edit] References
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008) |
[edit] External links
|
|||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ameobi, Foluwashola |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ameobi, Shola |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1981-10-12 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zaria
, Nigeria |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
