Sports

Saka Seeks To Join EPL Top Stars In Winning Player Of The Month Award

England international of Nigerian descent Bukayo Saka is one of eight nominees for March’s Premier League Player of the Month award, the English Premier League’s monthly prize which has been won by stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, David de Gea, Raheem Sterling and Trent Alexandre Arnold this season.

The 20-year-old Arsenal forward scored two goals and provided an assist from four Premier League matches as Mikel Arteta’s side broke into the top four of the table.

Saka scored a peach of a left-footed effort against Watford after combining expertly with Martin Odegaard for his side’s opener, and he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa last Saturday.

The forward whose father originally hails from Oyo State in the South Western part of Nigeria is the sole Arsenal nominee in March’s batch, with Tottenham Hotspur duo Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski also up for the award.

Chelsea also have two nominees in the forms of Trevoh Chalobah and Kai Havertz, while Liverpool’s Andy Robertson, Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Aston Villa’s Matty Cash complete the list.

Michail Antonio, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Raheem Sterling, David de Gea and Joel Matip have already received the individual honour this season.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.