Seventeen minutes into Hull City's first Premier League game in nine years, on 22 August 2026, Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens pushed an Oli McBurnie shot against the post and Semi Ajayi was first to the loose ball. McBurnie celebrated as if it were his. It was not. “I thought he scored it as well,” Ajayi told reporters after the 2-0 win at the MKM Stadium.
At 32, the Super Eagles centre-back is back in the top flight.
| Full name | Oluwasemilogo Adesewo Ibidapo Ajayi |
| Born | 9 November 1993, Crayford, England, to Nigerian parents |
| Position | Centre-back, 1.93m |
| Club | Hull City, free transfer on 19 June 2025 |
| Contract | Two years plus an option, to June 2027 |
| Nigeria | 57 caps, 2 goals by Wikipedia's count |
| Tournaments | AFCON 2023 runner-up, AFCON 2025 third |
Club career: Charlton, Arsenal, Rotherham, West Brom, Hull
Ajayi came through the Charlton Athletic academy. He never played for their first team.
Arsenal took him after a trial in September 2013 on a two-year academy deal, and although he scored on his under-21 debut, four senior bench appearances in 2014/15 were as close as he got. Cardiff City signed him in 2015. No league game followed. The education came on loan, at AFC Wimbledon, Crewe Alexandra and, from January 2017, Rotherham United.
Rotherham made him.
The move became permanent in July 2017. He helped the Millers win the 2018 League One play-off final. In March 2019 he was the Championship Player of the Month, and he left with 13 goals in 91 games.
West Bromwich Albion paid an undisclosed fee in July 2019. His first Premier League goal came in a 1-1 draw at Anfield on 27 December 2020, and he made 177 appearances for the Baggies.
Then Hull, for nothing. His first season ended at Wembley on 23 May 2026, where McBurnie's goal five minutes into stoppage time beat Middlesbrough 1-0 in the play-off final in front of 84,506 and sent Sergej Jakirovic's side, sixth in the regular season with 73 points, back to the Premier League after nine years away.
Hull City in the Premier League 2026/27
The United goal was Hull's first in the league against them since Matty Fryatt in May 2014, Opta Analyst noted. Ajayi was named player of the match.
“It's amazing. I want to play at the highest level and test myself at the highest level,” he said that week. “I will be ready to help the team to keep our place in the Premier League.”
The defence held. Hull did not concede in their first three games. They beat United and Coventry City and drew 0-0 with Aston Villa. After David Akintola left for Omonoia in September, Ajayi was the only Nigerian in the first-team squad, Soccernet reported. He had started all seven league matches by mid-October, as our guide to Nigerian players in the Premier League 2026/27 shows. For a defender Arsenal let go and Cardiff never used, that is some answer.
Super Eagles career
He chose Nigeria early. Three appearances for the under-20s at the 2013 Toulon Tournament came first, then a senior call-up in August 2018 and a debut against Seychelles in AFCON qualifying, off the bench for the injured Chidozie Awaziem.
AFCON 2023 defined him. He was the only Nigerian to play every minute of all seven matches on the way to the final in Cote d'Ivoire. In Morocco two years later he scored the opener in a 2-1 group win over Tanzania in Fez, and Nigeria finished third. His other goal came against Lesotho in Uyo in November 2023. He is a Member of the Order of the Niger. In September 2026 he reported to camp in Uyo for the opening 2027 AFCON qualifier, a 2-1 win over Madagascar. “I think having competition for places is always good,” he said.
Salary and net worth
Hull do not publish wages. The estimates disagree wildly.
Capology, quoted in a bet365 News breakdown of the Hull squad updated in October 2026, puts him on about 25,000 pounds a week and stresses that its figures are not official, while Salarysport lists 9,000 pounds a week. Neither is confirmed.
No credible net worth figure exists. Salarysport, which publishes career earnings rather than wealth, estimates 4.88 million pounds in wages across ten seasons, which is gross pay and not a fortune. The old claims about houses and cars on this page had no source, so they are gone.
Family, brother, wife and state of origin
What is public is short. Ajayi was born in Crayford, south-east London, to Nigerian parents, and he has not named a wife or partner in public. We are not going to guess.
Searches for a Semi Ajayi brother usually lead to the former NFL running back Jay Ajayi, also born in London to Nigerian parents, and his younger brother Solomon, once a Liberty University linebacker. Liberty's student paper names Jay as Solomon's older brother. It never mentions Semi, and we found no reliable record linking the defender to either of them. His state of origin is unconfirmed too, which is why he sits in that column on our list of Super Eagles players and their state of origin.
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