Three Nigerians including history-making 16yo set to be named in Bayer's gameday squad v West Ham
Published: April 17, 2024Newly crowned German champions Bayer Leverkusen have landed in the English capital ahead of their UEFA Europa League quarterfinal second leg clash against West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Xabi Alonso, manager of Die Werkself, has taken twenty-two players to London, including three players with Nigerian heritage.
Super Eagles duo Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella were part of the traveling squad, alongside 16-year-old Ken Izekor, a Nigerian forward born in Germany.
Izekor has already made his debut in the UEFA Europa League, coming off the bench in a dead-rubber clash against Molde FK back in December.
And in doing so, he became the youngest player of Nigerian descent to feature in the Europa League, aged 16 years and 204 days, breaking the previous record held by Manchester United attacking midfielder Shola Shoretire (17 years and 23 days).
Izekor is also the youngest ever footballer to play a competitive game for Bayer Leverkusen.
Since his historic debut, he has received two call-ups for Bundesliga matches but remained rooted to the bench in back-to-back games against RB Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Everything indicates that Boniface, Tella and Izekor will be selected in the final squad to take on the Hammers, with UEFA permitting teams to name a maximum of 23 players in the matchday squad for Europa League games.
Bayer Leverkusen are aiming to take their unbeaten run to 44 games in all competitions this term in Thursday's clash with David Moyes' West Ham.
Bayer Leverkusen's traveling squad to London: Lukas Hradecky, Josip Stanisic, Piero Hincapie, Jonathan Tah, Odilon Kossounou, Jonas Hofmann, Robert Andrich, Florian Wirtz, Edmond Tapsoba, Arthur, Patrik Schick, Matej Kovar, Nathan Tella, Alejandro Grimaldo , Amine Adli, Victor Boniface, Exequiel Palacios, Jeremie Frimpong, Gustavo Puerta, Granit Xhaka, Niklas Lomb, Ken Izekor.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
Photo Credit: bayer04.de
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