Samuel Chukwueze determined to fulfil his international dreams

Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze has spoken about the ambition of featuring for Nigeria at big tournaments after receiving the country’s Young Player of the Year accolade. The 19-year-old has been making a name for himself with Villarreal during the current campaign and he was recently involved in a thrilling 4-4 draw with Barcelona.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Chukwueze acknowledged that he is honoured as being named as the country’s best youngster for the calendar year and he is hopeful of making the cut with the Super Eagles for the big tournaments in the future, he told BBC Sport: “It serves as a motivation to keep working hard for more success. I’m very motivated and inspired by this, because it is unbelievable. Everything happening still seems like a dream. I have dreams of playing for my country in big tournaments and this shows that if I put more effort into my career, personal and team rewards will follow.”

Chukwueze has only scored four times for Villarreal this campaign, but one of those came during the classic against the Blaugrana, where he also contributed an assist. The Yellow Submarines were not able to secure maximum points after late goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, but they nonetheless claimed a stalemate which could enhance their La Liga survival prospects.

The club are currently just one point ahead of the drop zone but they have shown the tendency to grab points through stalemates which should enhance the bid of staying up. A couple of those have resulted against Real Madrid and Barcelona, and that shows the quality within the squad which has under performed during the course of the season.

Elsewhere, Chukwueze could be the subject of big-club interest during the summer with Arsenal among the top sides keeping a watch on the proceedings. The Nigerian had a trial with the Gunners alongside former Nigeria Under-17 captain Kelechi Nwakali four years ago, but they turned down the prospect to sign him after a disagreement over the transfer package with the Diamond Football academy. They may regret the decision with the player’s stock having vastly risen thereafter.