Former Nigerian Striker Yakubu Estimates His Value at $200 Million in Today's Transfer Market

Yakubu Aiyegbeni, remembered as one of the greatest foreign players in Israeli football history, reflected on his career and the evolution of transfer fees in a recent interview with AY Suga. The Nigerian striker joined Maccabi Haifa at a young age, playing four years in Israel, where he helped the club win two league titles and reach the Champions League group stage. He later starred in the English Premier League with clubs including Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Leicester City, and Blackburn.

Yakubu discussed the soaring transfer fees in modern football, estimating that if he played today, his value would be around 150 million pounds (approximately 204 million dollars). He noted that during his career, his transfer from Middlesbrough to Everton was about 11.5 million pounds, which he equates to 150 million pounds in today's market. Similarly, his move from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough for 7.5 million pounds was considered a huge sum at the time, bringing significant pressure to perform.

He emphasized that scoring 15 goals per season in the Premier League over several years would make a player extremely valuable today, citing current players who score 10 goals being worth around 50 million pounds. Yakubu concluded that the transfer fees he commanded in his era were substantial and that the pressure to deliver on such investments was immense.