Where Super Eagles star Chibuike Nwaiwu ranks among Trabzonspor’s best 5 players

New stats have shown that Super Eagles defender Chibuike Nwaiwu has been among Trabzonspor’s most outstanding performers this season.

Nwaiwu ranks fourth among Trabzonspor’s highest-rated players after nine appearances in the Turkish Super Lig this season.

The 23-year-old Nigerian centre-back has earned a rating of 7.22, narrowly ahead of goalkeeper André Onana, who sits fifth with 7.21.

The Super Eagles star has started this season exactly how he ended last term; on a high. After joining Trabzonspor in the winter from Austria’s Wolfsberger, Nwaiwu needed little time to break into the Turkish side’s starting lineup.

The former Enyimba and Heartland defender finished that campaign with three goals and one assist in 16 Turkish Super Lig games.

The 2026-27 season has started in similar fashion with Nwaiwu’s defensive work and accurate passing helping him earn a place among the team’s top performers.

Chibuike Nwaiwu ranks ahead of Onana in Trabzonspor top five

Former Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah is Trabzonspor’s best player on the chart with a rating of 7.81 on WhoScored. The attacking midfielder has scored eight goals and provided three assists in nine league appearances.

Guinea-Bissau forward Franculino Djú is second with a rating of 7.59, having scored four goals and supplied two assists. Ernest Muçi completes the top three with a rating of 7.43 after recording two goals and five assists in eight appearances.

Nwaiwu occupies fourth place, just ahead of Onana. The goalkeeper has featured in all nine league matches, playing every minute for Trabzonspor.

Super Eagles defender excels in passing accuracy

Chibuike Nwaiwu has played 803 minutes in the Super Lig, scoring once, getting one assist and receiving three yellow cards.

His passing accuracy of 88.7 per cent is the highest among Trabzonspor’s top five players. Standing at 193cm, the defender has also won an average of 1.6 aerial duels per game.

Nwaiwu’s best performance this season came in Trabzonspor’s 3-0 win over Samsunspor on October 10. He scored the second of his team’s goals, helped keep a clean sheet and earned a rating of 9.08.

A versatile player who could also do a decent job at defensive midfield, Nwaiwu was also impressive in Trabzonspor’s wins against Galatasaray, Besiktas, and Gençlerbirliği, where he notched his first assist.

One match Nwaiwu would love to forget quickly, however, is the Europa League qualifying loss to Ferencvaros. The Nigerian defender picked up a red card – his first in Trabzonspor’s colours – as his side fell to a 1-0 home defeat.

An old-school, no-nonsense defender almost from a similar mold as Taribo West, Nwaiwu enjoys tackling and blocking opponents’ shots.

Now sealing his place as Trabzonspor’s best defender, €18m-rated Nwaiwu is now the second most valuable player at the Turkish club and the eighth on the Super Eagles roster.

He already boasts three Super Eagles caps but improved Trabzonspor performances could convince head coach Eric Chelle to make him one of the pillars of the national team’s defence.