Sammy Ameobi

Newcastle United

Early career

Ameobi said in a 2011 interview that football "wasn't [his] thing" as a child, but seeing his older brother Shola make his first team debut for Newcastle against Chelsea in September 2000 spurred on his enthusiasm for the game. He joined the Newcastle United Academy in July 2008 after finishing school. His youth career was severely disrupted after suffering a serious hip injury, taking a year to recover from surgery in Colorado. He has stated that he "had to learn to run all over again" after recovering from the injury. He made his reserve team debut on 29 September 2008 against Blackburn Rovers. He made his first-team debut on 15 May 2011 in Newcastle's penultimate match of the 2010–11 season as a second-half substitute against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a 2–2 draw, alongside his brother Shola, coming on for Peter Løvenkrands just before Chelsea made the game 2–1. They became the first pair of brothers to play for Newcastle in a league match since George and Ted Robledo in 1952. Ameobi scored his first senior goal on 15 July 2011, in a pre-season friendly against Darlington. Prior to the goal, supporters chanted, "If Sammy scores we're on the pitch" and thus the goal was followed by a pitch invasion which caused the game to be delayed for 10 minutes. He scored his first competitive goal on 25 August 2011, scoring the winner in extra time against Scunthorpe United in the second round of the Football League Cup in his first…

Ameobi joined the Nigeria U-20 squad training in Turkey ahead of the 2011 African Youth Championship. He appeared in two friendly games for the side against Saudi Arabia and Egypt. However, in November 2011, he was called up to the England U-21 squad for matches against Iceland and Belgium by Stuart Pearce as an injury replacement for Connor Wickham. On 10 November, Ameobi made his England Under-21 debut against Iceland in a 5–0 win, as an early substitute in place of Nathan Delfouneso, to maintain England's perfect start to their Euro 2013 Under-21 Qualifying group. Four days later, Ameobi made his first start for the side against Belgium under-21s. England were winning 1–0 when Ameobi was substituted after 67 minutes; the game eventually ended 2–1 to Belgium. On 6 August 2014, Ameobi confirmed that he has chosen to follow elder brother Shola in declaring for Nigeria.

As of end of 2021–22 season

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Ameobi attended Heaton Manor School in Newcastle and Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland, and finished school with 11 GCSEs prior to joining the Newcastle academy on a scholarship. His parents, John and Margaret Ameobi, had moved to Newcastle from Nigeria in October 1986. After originally settling in the city centre, the family later relocated to Fenham as John, who had worked as a teacher in Nigeria, undertook a PhD in agricultural engineering. His father later went on to become the pastor of Newcastle Apostolic Church in Spital Tongues and Sammy also became a devout Christian. Ameobi has two older brothers, both of whom are also footballers: Shola and Tomi. He also has three sisters, Tolu, Titi and Ife. Their father later stated how the family were victims of racist abuse after arriving in Britain, nearly returning to Nigeria before claiming that God told him to remain in Newcastle. Sammy later recalled his own experiences, commenting "There was the odd time when I was chased by someone riding a bike, and had to run home and lock the door behind me." As their father's visa did not allow him to work, the family survived on the £15 a week wages brought in by their mother's part-time job. On the advice of teachers in order to integrate the children into English society, the Ameobis spoke only English at home, and the children eventually lost fluency in their native Yoruba. Ameobi has asthma, having been diagnosed with the condition at…