Onyedinma and Adebayo Celebrate as Luton Town Reach the Premier League

Onyedinma and Adebayo Celebrate as Luton Town Reach the Premier League

The Nigerian football news scene is abuzz with excitement after images and video clips from newly-promoted Premier League side Luton Town showed the Nigerian flag being flown as the club celebrated their ascent to English football's top flight.

The flag was flown by Fred Onyedinma and Elijah Adebayo as they celebrated their new status as Premier League players following their promotion from the EFL Championship.

Though they are one of the first teams in England to become a professional club, Luton Town have never played in the Premier League, being relegated before the top flight format was changed in 1992.

Onyedinma and Adebayo join a host of Nigerians in the Premier League

Fred Onyedinma and Elijah Adebayo both joined Luton Town in 2021 from Wycombe Wanderers and Walsall respectively.

Luton were slowly adapting to Championship football after spending years in the National League, the lowest tier of English football.

Their rise to the second division is an inspiring story of grit and astuteness in correcting the errors that almost saw them go extinct like a few other clubs most recently.

Onyedinma, a midfielder, was a strong squad option for the side and made 19 appearances in the Championship as Luton battled the more experienced sides for the Premier League ticket. Adebayo played 25 games and scored eight goals from his position as a forward, which helped the team bag a playoff spot.

Adebayo provided the assist in the playoff final against Coventry City which opened the scoring. The game would end 1-1 with Onyedinma coming in as a late substitute in the game and a penalty shootout would ensue.

Their celebratory lap with the Nigerian flag that is generating so much buzz among happy Nigerian fans came after they beat Coventry on penalties to seal the third promotion ticket after Burnley and Sheffield United achieved automatic promotion.

They now join Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis of Nottingham Forest, Everton's Alex Iwobi and Brentford's Frank Onyeka in the Premier League.

Gabriel Osho seals promotion with Luton Town

While Onyedinma and Adebayo may be grabbing the headlines, the Hatters have another player who is eligible for the Nigeria national football team.

Gabriel Osho, a midfielder like Onyedinma, was especially influential in the playoffs stages, scoring one of his two goals in the game that sent Luton Town to the final against Coventry.

His absence from the lap was questioned by Nigerian fans on social media but seeing as he has not been capped by any national team in his career, he joins Adebayo and Onyedinma as prospects for the Super Eagles.

The 24-year-old who is versatile enough to be played across the defence and the midfield, has been with Luton since 2020 but only sealed a spot in the squad this season after two separate loan spells. He recovered from a hamstring injury to become one of the side's key players this season.

Many believe that the Super Eagles handlers should keep an eye on him as they build a strong squad to retake the “Giants of African football” crown from Senegal, who have been the most dominant force on the continent in the past few years.

This article was most recently revised and updated 2 years ago

Daniel Kolade
All-round lover of the beautiful game. Massive football fan, supported Arsenal for decades for reasons that are unexplainable. One day we will win the Champions League!
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