Did you know that Premier League icon Yakubu had a trial at West Ham United before leading the line for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton and Blackburn Rovers in England’s top flight?
In conversation with former West Ham United defender James Collins and ex-Brighton striker Glen Murray, the now-43-year-old opened up on the brief trial spell he had at Upton Park in the early 2000s.
Just days after fellow Nigerian Brown Ideye explained a failed Hammers switch of his own, Yakubu’s story makes you wonder what his career might have looked like had East London not been battered by an ill-timed snowy spell.
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Yakubu suggests the weather ruined his West Ham United trial
Speaking on the Clutch9 podcast, a striker who went on to score 95 Premier League goals across a ten-year period reflects on West Ham’s brief interest, and his eventual, life-changing switch to Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth.
“I came from Maccabi Haifa in Israel. I never thought I’d get to the Premier League, you know?,” Yakubu says.
“I went to West Ham on trial before I came to Portsmouth. Jermain Defoe was there [at the time]. Glenn [Roeder] was the manager there.
“It was the Christmas period. My agent rang me and said, ‘We have a club for you: West Ham.’ Maybe I should have been a West Ham player!
“They wanted me to come over, so I went over. I trained, but it was snowing everywhere. It was freezing! I trained once, then the second day, then the third day. Then my agent said, ‘You have to go back to Nigeria.’
“I was like, ‘Why am I going back? What’s the decision?’ He told me West Ham wanted me to stay another week, but my agent said, ‘No, I don’t want you to stay long. So just go back home and I will let you know’.
“So I went back home.”
Yakubu loved playing under Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth
The next time Yakubu got a call from his agent, it was to tell him that Portsmouth were looking into a £4 million deal on the back of 43 goals in 54 appearances for Maccabi Haifa.
“I was with my mates, having some drinks, and the phone rang. It was my agent. He said, ‘I’ve got a club for you.’ He said, ‘Portsmouth.’ I’d never heard of Portsmouth! I had no clue,” adds Yakubu, who netted 16 times an outstanding first Premier League season in 2003/04.
“He told me, ‘[Redknapp] is good. He likes you and wants you to come over. You can do it. Just go there.’
“As soon as I trained, the first day, second day, third day, Harry pulled me over and said, ‘Do you like the place, do you want to stay?’. I said, ‘yeah, I love it!'”
“Oh, Harry is a special man. He’s a really, really special guy. He’s funny.”
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Interestingly, The Mirror reports that West Ham would make a £7.5 million bid for Yakubu seven years later, when Avram Grant was in the dugout and the Nigeria legend was up top for Everton.
Grant was the last manager to suffer relegation at West Ham, back in 2011. Nuno Espirito Santo is desperate to avoid joining the one-time Champions League runner-up in the history books for all the wrong reasons.
There are growing concerns over Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos, though; West Ham’s current crop of centre-forwards seemingly incapable of putting up the sort of numbers Yakubu frequently produced on the Premier League stage.
Bologna’s £35 million-rated hitman Santiago Castro was linked with the Londoners this week.
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