Arsenal dilemma a lesson for Nwakali – former Nigeria star Amuneke

Former Nigeria coach Emmanuel Amuneke believes Huesca midfielder Kelechi Nwakali will have learnt lessons from his time at Arsenal.  

The 22-year-old teamed up with the Emirates Stadium outfit after his eye-catching performances at the U17 World Cup in Chile in 2015.  

The midfielder captained the Golden Eaglets to win the title for a record time and won the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.  

Nwakali spent three years with the Gunners without featuring for the Premier League club and had to make do with loan spells at MVV Maastricht, VVV-Venlo and Porto B.

The midfielder left the Emirates Stadium outfit permanently in the summer of 2019 to team up with Huesca in an effort to reignite his career.

Nwakali was part of Míchel’s side that gained promotion to La Liga last season after emerging as champions of the Segunda Division.

Amuneke, under whom the midfielder broke into the limelight, feels the Diamond Football Academy graduate should have learnt lessons from his situation at Arsenal which will help to stabilize his career.

“I think Kelechi is a gifted player with the quality he has but, of course, after the world cup, he was signed by Arsenal which everybody believes that with his quality and the style of Arsenal kind of football, he would be able to find a way but unfortunately things didn’t work out the way people expected,” Amuneke told Brila FM .

“It’s a kind of lesson to him because when success comes a lot of people come around those with good intentions and bad intentions.

“Everybody comes with different ideas, but if you are not able to sit down and analyze things at the end of the day it looks as if you are jumping from one direction to another.”

After featuring for Nigeria at the U17, Nwakali also played for the West Africans at the U20 level and has one cap for the Super Eagles.

The midfielder will hope to shine for the Oscenses in the Spanish top-flight to boost his regular call-up to the Nigeria national team.