Sammy Ameobi

Sammy Ameobi
Personal information
Full nameSamuel Oluwaseyi J. Ameobi[1]
Date of birth1 May 1992
Place of birthNewcastle upon Tyne, England
Height1.94 m (6 ft 4 1⁄2 in)[2][3]
Playing positionWinger
Club information
Current team
Newcastle United
Number28
Youth career
2008–2010Newcastle United
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2011–Newcastle United52(2)
2013→ Middlesbrough (loan)9(1)
National team‡
2011Nigeria U202(0)
2011–2013England U215(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:28, 22 March 2015 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:50, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

Samuel Oluwaseyi J. "Sammy" Ameobi (born 1 May 1992) is a footballer who plays for Newcastle United as a winger. He is the younger brother of fellow players Shola and Tomi Ameobi.

Born in England, Ameobi was capped by England at under-21 level before switching his allegiance to Nigeria in August 2014.

Club career

Newcastle United

Early career

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear,[2] Ameobi joined the Newcastle United Academy in July 2008 after finishing school[4] and made his reserve team debut on 29 September 2008 against Blackburn Rovers.[4] He made his first-team debut on 15 May 2011 as a second-half substitute against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a 2–2 draw, alongside his brother Shola, coming on for Peter Løvenkrands just before Chelsea made the game 2–1. This prompted Newcastle fans to change a chant from "There's only one Ameobi" to "There's only two Ameobis". They became the first pair of brothers to play for Newcastle in a league match since George and Ted Robledo in 1952.[5][6]

Ameobi scored his first senior goal on 15 July 2011, in a pre-season friendly against Darlington. Prior to the goal, supporters chanted, "If Sammy scores we're on the pitch" and thus the goal was followed by a pitch invasion which caused the game to be delayed for 10 minutes.[7] He scored his first competitive goal on 25 August 2011, scoring the winner in extra time against Scunthorpe United in the second round of the Football League Cup.[8]

On 17 November 2011, Ameobi signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract extension with Newcastle United, keeping him at the club until 2015.[9] On 19 November 2011, he started his first-ever Premier League match, away to Manchester City.

Middlesbrough (loan)

Ameobi joined Middlesbrough on 25 February 2013 on loan until the end of the 2012–13 season. On 2 March, Ameobi scored on his debut for the club in a 2–1 victory over Cardiff City.[10]

Return to Newcastle United

Ameobi scored his first senior league goal for Newcastle on 26 October 2014, within seven seconds of the second half against Tottenham. [11]

International career

Ameobi joined the Nigeria U-20 squad training in Turkey ahead of the 2011 African Youth Championship.[12] He appeared in two friendly games for the Nigeria U20s against Saudi Arabia and Egypt.[13] However, in November 2011, he was called up to the England U-21 squad for matches against Iceland and Belgium by Stuart Pearce. He met up with his team mates for the first day of training on 7 November. On 10 November Ameobi made his England Under-21 debut against Iceland in a 5–0 win to maintain England's perfect start to their Euro 2013 Under-21 Qualifying group. On 14 November Ameobi made his first start against Belgium Under-21s. England were winning 1–0 when Ameobi was subbed off after 67 minutes, the game eventually ended 2–1 to Belgium.

On 6 August 2014, Ameobi confirmed that he has chosen to follow elder brother Shola in declaring for Nigeria.[14]

Personal life

Ameobi has two older brothers who are also footballers: Shola, his former teammate at Newcastle, and Tomi, who plays for FC Edmonton in Canada.[4] He attended Heaton Manor School in Newcastle and Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland, and finished school with 11 GCSEs prior to joining the Newcastle academy on a scholarship.[6]

Career statistics

Club

As of 21 March 2015[15]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Division AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Newcastle United 2010–11[16] Premier League 100000—10
2011–12[17] Premier League 900031—121
2012–13[18] Premier League 8010005[lower-alpha 1]0140
Middlesbrough(loan) 2012–13[18] Championship 910000—91
Newcastle United 2013–14[19] Premier League 1000021—121
2014–15[20] Premier League 2120020—232
Newcastle United total 492107250624
Career total 583107250715
  1. ↑ Appearances in UEFA Europa League.

References

  1. ↑ "Premier League clubs submit squad lists". Premier League. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Sammy Ameobi". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Ameobi, SOJ (Sammy)", English National Football Archive
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Sam Ameobi". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  5. ↑ Ryder, Lee (16 May 2011). "Shola and Sammy Ameobi tell of NUFC pride". Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Newcastle United's Shola and Sammy Ameobi revel in shared ambition". The Guardian. 20 May 2011.
  7. ↑ Marshall, Anthony (15 July 2011). "Darlington 0 Newcastle 2". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Scunthorpe 1–2 Newcastle". BBC Sport. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  9. ↑ "Sammy Signs Up!". Newcastle United F.C. 17 November 2011.
  10. ↑ "Middlesbrough 2–1 Cardiff" BBC Sport. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "Tottenham 1–2 Newcastle". BBC Sport. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Adewuyi, Lolade (8 March 2011). "Newcastle's Sam Ameobi Joins Nigeria U-20's". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  13. ↑ Ryder, Lee (24 September 2011). "Stuart Pearce keeping tabs on Sammy Ameobi". Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  14. ↑ Okeleji, Oluwashina (6 August 2014). "Sammy Ameobi: Newcastle United striker opts to play for Nigeria". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  15. ↑ Sammy Ameobi career statistics at Soccerbase
  16. ↑ "Games played by Sammy Ameobi in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Games played by Sammy Ameobi in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Games played by Sammy Ameobi in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Games played by Sammy Ameobi in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "Games played by Sammy Ameobi in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 June 2014.

External links