Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze has received a fr4esh round of applause from the Spanish LaLIga club’s coach, Unai Emery, who admitted he was thrilled with the youngster’s performance in Thursday night’s UEFA Europa League quarter-finals’ clash.
Megasportsarena.com reports that victory on the night against Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia saw The Yellow Submarine pull through to face Arsenal of England in the semi-finals, and Emery is of a view that he would again have Chukwueze to count on against his former club.
The Spanish soccer tactician acknowledged how Chukwueze excelled playing down the right wing for his side and, though the Super Eagles’ youngster hit the post twice instead of putting the ball into the net, Emery is thinking big about the lad’s quality.
Emery admitted he is counting on ‘Samu’ to excel again when The Yellow Submarine face The Gunners in the semi-final, after they beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 on aggregate, to set up the date against his former club, which also moved for the Nigerian lad after he excelled in winning the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
Paco Alcacer gave Villarreal the lead nine minutes before half-time, with Chukwueze providing the assist, before Gerard Moreno doubled the lead in the 43rd minute, only for the product of Diamond Football Academy of Umuahia to hit the woodwork in each half.
A great save by Dinamo’s goalkeeper also prevented Chukwueze from scoring in the closing minutes of the game, such that he will pray for a better outing against Arsenal, who had been very close to signing him in 2017, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute.
Arsenal agreed a £1.5 million transfer fee and Diamond Football Academy would have been paid £500,000 when he breaks into the first team plus an extra £500,000 when he makes his first appearance for the Super Eagles.
Chikwueze’s expectations back then came crashing down when The Gunners and Diamond could not agree on the payment terms despite the winger passing a medical, but a fresh opportunity of playing himself back into the spotlight at Arsenal could come when they clash in the last four.
Emery highlighted Chukwueze’s influence in his squad and singled the left-footed dazzler out for his excellent display against Dinamo Zagreb, adding: “We have found the individual contribution like Samu’s on the right wing, where he has found again situations of individual brilliance, which brought very good things to the team.”
