Kanu Nwankwo; Arsène Wenger. Twitter image
Former Super Eagles captain Kanu Nwankwo joined in the celebrations after his former club Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for the English Premier League title on Tuesday.
Arsenal’s success in the 2025/26 season was confirmed on Tuesday night following Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
Holding a two-point lead over Manchester City after their penultimate game of the season on Monday, Arsenal were primed to be confirmed champions if the Citizens dropped points in their Matchday 37 fixture against Bournemouth.
As a result, Mikel Arteta’s men go into the final game of the season on Sunday four points clear of City, with the Gunners set to lift the trophy at Crystal Palace.
The last time the North London club won the EPL title was in the 2003/04 season and Kanu was part of the famous Invincibles that won the title with an unbeaten record.
Kanu made 10 appearances that season, scoring one goal and providing four assists. He arrived at Highbury in 1999 and made 197 appearances, scoring 44 goals and providing 38 assists for the Gunners before leaving in 2004.
“Arsenal forever. The Gunners worked so hard for this. Difficult but they fought. Very well deserved. Come on you Gunners,” he wrote on X, sharing a photo of himself holding the EPL trophy 22 years ago.
After leaving Arsenal at the end of that season, Kanu joined West Bromwich Albion and later Portsmouth, where he took his Premier League appearances tally to 273 games with 54 goals and 29 assists.
He is among the Nigerian players with the highest number of Premier League appearances, third behind Alex Iwobi (319) and Shola Ameobi (298).
Aside from his time at Arsenal and in England, Kanu also enjoyed a trophy-laden career at club and national team level.
Before joining Arsenal, where he won two EPL titles and two FA Cup titles, he won the Dutch league title, the UEFA Champions League in 1994/95, the UEFA Super Cup in 1995 and the Intercontinental Cup in 1995 with Ajax.
He also won the UEFA Cup with Inter Milan in 1997/98 as well as another FA Cup title with Portsmouth in 2007/08.
For Nigeria, he won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1993 and Olympic football gold in 1996.
