Who Scored reveals the highest-rated Nigerians in Europe

Who Scored reveals the highest-rated Nigerians in Europe
Photo by Icon Sport

Who Scored, a highly respected sports medium known for its top stats on players and teams, has named the three highest-rated Nigerian players in the top five leagues in Europe. They are Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface and Maduka Okoye.

The sports stats medium ranked the top players of various countries in the world playing in any of the top five leagues in Europe.

They ranked Kylian Mbappe as the highest-rated player for France, while Michael Olise (Eligible to play for Nigeria) was second on the list.

Another player eligible for Nigeria, who made the list for another country, is Chiedozie Ogbene, rated second for Ireland.

How did they rank Osimhen, Boniface and Okoye – the three highest-rated Nigerians, who play in the Serie A and the Bundesliga?

Victor Boniface is the highest-rated Nigerian in Europe's top five leagues

Victor Boniface in action for Leverkusen. The highest-rated nigerian player in the top five european leagues
Credit: Icon Sport

Victor Boniface is in line to return from an injury he copped before the commencement of AFCON 2023.

Before his injury, Boniface was in fine form and expected to help the Super Eagles win its fourth AFCON title. However, an injury put paid to his participation in the tournament.

Before his injury, Boniface scored ten goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga. He also added a further four goals and one assist in the Europa League. He also scored two goals in the German Cup.

The biggest achievement of the Super Eagles forward is a Player of the Month award and a record-breaking four straight Rookie of the Month honour.

The 23-year-old has a pass success rate of 72.1% in the Bundesliga and 74.6% in the Europa League. Victor Boniface rounds up his brilliant performance this season with an average of 4.4 shots per game.

He is the highest-rated Nigerian player this season.

Who Scored rates him at 7.81.

An average season for Victor Osimhen

victor boniface beats victor Osimhen as highest-rated nigerian player in Europe
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By his lofty standards, Osimhen has not had a stellar season. The forward has had issues with his Serie A club, Napoli, and his mind may be on leaving the club in the summer.

Despite reaching double-digit goals this season, he has scored less than 50% of his tally last term. Dropping as the highest-rated Nigerian in the top five European leagues is understandable.

Injury has sidelined him twice this season, and he is nursing an ailment that will keep him out of the Super Eagles friendlies this month.

Osimhen has scored 11 Serie A goals this season. The stats of the former Lille forward pales to that of Boniface despite seeing more minutes than the Leverkusen striker.

Osimhen has seen 1338 minutes of action but has lower shots per goal (3.2), a pass accuracy of 68.8% and one Man of the Match award compared to the three by Victor Boniface.

Osimhen falls behind Boniface in the ratings of highest-rated Nigerian players.

Who Scored rates him at 6.91.

Maduka Okoye is back to form this season

Maduka Okoye is the third highest-rated Nigerian player in Europe's top five leagues
Photo by Icon Sport

Maduka Okoye has been through the wilderness but is back to form as he has put in scintillating performances for Udinese this term.

The almost 2-metre tall goalkeeper got his chance to be between the sticks for the Serie A Udinese and grabbed it with both hands.

He has posted brilliant displays that ensured the top-choice goalkeeper, Marco Silvestri, has had to manage a place on the bench.

Since his first game on the 30th of December, Okoye has had 16 apps and conceded 19 Serie A goals.

Despite conceding 19 goals, Okoye has three clean sheets. He has an average concession rate of 1.25 per match (an average of one goal every 72 minutes).

He has faced 54 shots (an average of 4.5 per 90 minutes) and made 38 saves (70% save percentage).

He has come out tops in eight of nine ground duels and is yet to give away a penalty.

Okoye is the Udinese February Player of the Month.

Who Scored says he has no significant strength but is weak at claiming crosses and rates him at 6.88.

This article was most recently revised and updated 10 months ago

Chooka Izuegbuna is a Sports Journalist with 20 years of experience in print, TV and Radio. He has worked with some of the top media houses in Nigeria, including NTA Network, Channels TV, TVC, Silverbird TV and MITV. Chooka broke his sports reporting teeth with The Game Football Weekly in 2003 as a cartoonist and reporter. Chooka has a passion for football and has been a fan of Enugu Rangers (over 30 years) and Real Madrid (Since 1996).