Rashidi Yekini remains the benchmark for Nigerian strikers more than a decade after his death, and former Nigeria captain Sunday Oliseh believes the late striker would have carried a huge price tag in today’s transfer market, Footynaija.com reports.
Yekini scored 37 goals in 58 appearances for Nigeria, making him the country’s all-time leading goalscorer. His goals came across some of the most important periods in Super Eagles history, including the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations triumph and Nigeria’s first appearance at the FIFA World Cup.
His famous celebration after scoring against Bulgaria at USA 94 remains one of the defining images of Nigerian football. At club level, Yekini also enjoyed his most prolific spell with Vitória de Setúbal, where his goalscoring form earned him the European Golden Boot in the 1993/94 season.
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Oliseh puts a €200m value on Yekini
Speaking about Nigeria’s greatest strikers, Oliseh had no hesitation in choosing Yekini ahead of the country’s other famous forwards.
“Rashidi Yekini was Nigeria’s greatest striker,” Oliseh said.
The former midfielder believes the striker’s numbers, consistency and importance to the national team would have made him an extremely expensive player in the modern market.
“With today’s transfer market and modern sports medicine, Yekini would have played longer and commanded an enormous transfer value,” Oliseh argued.
The modern game has produced transfer fees that were almost unthinkable during Yekini’s playing days, with elite forwards now attracting nine-figure sums. Oliseh therefore believes Yekini’s combination of goalscoring ability and longevity would have placed him among the most expensive players in world football.
Yekini died in 2012 at the age of 48, but his place in Nigerian football has remained secure. No Super Eagles player has surpassed his 37 international goals, while his record-breaking performances for club and country continue to shape comparisons involving Nigeria’s later generations of strikers.
For Oliseh, that standing goes beyond nostalgia. He sees Yekini as a forward whose production and importance would have commanded a modern transfer fee of around €200 million.
