A statue of Nigerian striker Anthony Nwakaeme has been unveiled in the Turkish city of Trabzon where Super Lig club Trabzonspor is based.

The statue was unveiled by Mustafa Bulut and Adem Birsen as a permanent reminder of Nwakaeme’s time at Trabzonspor.

And commenting on the statue, Birsen told Turkish media outlet 61saat:”A long construction process of 6 months. We had it done with a special sculptor. We love and admire him very much.

“We could’ve picked any Turkish footballer, but Nwakaeme is a very different name for us. He came from outside and embody us. A man who loves Trabzonspor like us, we see him as one of us. He has the characteristics of Trabzon.”

Birsen added: “It cost 30 thousand Turkish Lira (N1.4m) but the money is not important. Let him come here, we have food, we eat and drink. Let him continue to score. If Fenerbahçe has Alex, we have Nwakaeme. We love him very much, he should continue to score, he is our everything.”

The 32-year-old joined Trabzonspor on August 2018 from Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

In 2020, he helped Trabzonspor win the Turkish Cup and the Turkish Super Cup.

So far this season he has scored three goals in five appearances in all competitions, two goals in the league and one in the newly introduced UEFA Europa Conference League.

By James Agberebi