Aston Villa's 17-year-old Nigeria-eligible midfielder denied by the post on EPL debut vs Spurs

Published: May 19, 2021

Highly-rated midfielder of Nigerian descent Carney Chukwuemeka made his English Premier League debut as Aston Villa came from behind to register a 2-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.

Wearing the number 60 jersey at the back of his jersey, Chukwuemeka entered the game as a substitute in the 89th minute, replacing Marvelous Nakamba.

Today's clash was the sixth match that the 2003-born player has been named in a matchday squad for a Premier League game as he was previously a non-playing substitute against Leicester City, Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton and Crystal Palace.

According to the statisticians at Sky Sports, Chukwuemeka (17 yrs, 211 days) became Aston Villa’s third youngest Premier League player after Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (16 yrs, 198 days) & Gareth Barry (17 yrs, 68 days) .

He was inches away from a debut goal when he hit the post with a low strike from outside the box.

It is no surprise that manager Dean Smith handed a professional debut to Chukwuemeka as Aston Villa are keen to integrate him into the first team squad sooner rather than later in a bid to fend off interest from bigger teams interested in his signature.

Steven Bergwijn fired a shot into the top scorer to open the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur in the 8th minute, Villa equalised when Sergio Reguilon deflected a cross past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, before Ollie Watkins bagged what proved to be the winning goal in the 39th minute.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : avfc.co.uk

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