�️ If you ask any pro footballer if they like being a substitute, most would tell you they'd prefer starting games more. But what happens when you were once in the bracket of "������� �������" with Ronaldo de Lima in the 90s but then your career goes a bit differently in your prime years playing mostly as a substitute...a ����� ��� for that matter. Then you must be Nwankwo Kanu.

No need to really elucidate on the exploits of the teenage Kanu, but its funny he wasn't always talked about greatly like Patrick Kluivert or Jari Litmanen in that Ajax side of the mid 90s but on closer inspection & looking at goal involvement & build-ups, a young Kanu showed intelligence beyond his years in that side. Milan was suppose to be the meeting point for two of Africa's & South America's brightest talent of the 90s at Inter but the heart problem would derail Kanu's potential partnership with � �������� & his trajectory of breaking into that World Class group which he looked bang on reaching. Arsenal would give him a new lease of life at the tail end of the 90s which were littered with some unforgettable moments but it would change towards the mid-2000s.

Kanu would become a bit-part player in that Arsenal ���������� run and even internationally his game-time would reduce just after AFCON 2004. He didn't always start games but he proved to be a very key weapon from the bench. Who remembers his cameo from the bench against Gabon in Port Harcourt? At AFCON 2006 he was ������'� go-to-man until he started against Ivory Coast which we lost. His last years would be spent coming from the bench but being very effective while on it either swinging games to Nigeria with assists, or drawing fouls from opponents in dangerous areas.

Credit: Old Naija Football

For a time whenever Kanu appeared on the touch line Nigerians had hope whether you were at the stadium or watching from home. He always made his presence known. There are games you watch Nigeria play these days and wish for that impact player when Plan A doesn't work, but sadly there isn't just that �������� to call on.

���� was class, ���� was unique, ���� was simply ���� � ��