Arsenal sign Kanu

Friday 15th January 1999

The long-running saga of Arsenal's interest in Nigerian International striker Nw*nkwo Kanu is over.
And, unusually, it has resulted in us signing the player.

Arsène Wenger has been quoted as saying that our new number 25 is the first player capable of playing Alan Smith's type of game that we've had since Smudger himself was forced to retire.

Kanu song suggestions now on the ArseWeb songs page
Arsenal officially announce the signing: (from AFCi)
Kanu factfile: (from Reuters)
Kanu Biography: With goal tallies. (From the Inter web site, but bilingual)
Unofficial Inter Fan page for Kanu: (in Italian)
Videos of Kanu goals: Going back to his Ajax years, and the 96 Olympics where he made his name.
(on RETE site)
SuperEagles site

We have signed Kanu for "an undisclosed fee", as is the fashion these days. PA guess at £4.5million.
AFCi does however reveal that we have signed him on a long-term deal. PA speculate that this might be as long as 6 years.
Speculation will also no doubt continue as to whether we came to some sort of arrangement with Inter regarding Kanu's future good health. Reports suggest that although he passed the medical, he may be requiring cartilage surgery before too long.

Thanks to Simon for
our first pic of Kanu
in an Arsenal shirt.
Credit for the
shoulders goes to
Luis Boa Morte.

Pronunciation guide - heard so far...

nnn-WUUUN-kwo
(current favourite)
- vowel sound in the explosive 2nd syllable tends to neutral/schwa
- 3rd syllable kind of clipped and quiet
en-quah-nu
en-wank-o
N-wank-wu
n-wank-er

Apparently, early in his career he went by the name of Christian Kanu.

ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here