Despite being eligible to play for England, Elijah Adebayo has expressed his desire to represent the Super Eagles.
As expected, many Nigerians were excited about this news, with some requesting for him to be called up to the national team for the Super Eagles‘ friendly games in March.
With that in mind, who is Elijah Adebayo?
Elijah Adebayo was born in the UK
Elijah Anuoluwapo Oluwaferanmi Oluwatomi Oluwalana Ayomikulehin Adebayo was born in Brent, a borough of northwest London on 7 January 1998.
Given that his parents are from Nigeria, the 26-year-old is eligible to represent the Super Eagles, as well as England's Three Lions.
Adebayo's club career
Elijah Adebayo kicked off his career with Fulham, spending nine years (2007-16) with their youth teams before gaining promotion to the senior team in 2016.
To be fair, Adebayo did not play a single game for the Cottagers, as he was loaned out to Slough Town, Bognor Regis Town, Cheltenham Town, Swindon Town and Stevenage in just three years with Fulham's main team.
However, Adebayo impressed during his loan spell with Swindon, scoring five times in 25 appearances. He joined Walsall as a free agent after the expiration of his contract with Fulham.
After scoring 10 times in the first half of Walsall's 2020/21 League Two campaign, he joined Luton Town on deadline day in the January 2021 transfer window and has been with the club since then.
Adebayo can also play as a central defender
Adebayo started out as a striker, but was converted to a central defender by Fulham's U-16 coach.
Interestingly, he switched back to his original position just before getting promoted to Fulham's main team.
Elijah Adebayo stats this season
It's worth mentioning that Adebayo was one of Luton Town's top performers during their 2022/23 Championship campaign. His seven goals and four assists helped the team secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time in history.
As it stands, the former Fulham player is Luton Town's top scorer in their first-ever Premier League campaign. He has scored nine times in 23 league games so far.
Adebayo put up a man-of-the-match performance in Luton's 4-0 victory over Brighton in January 2024, scoring a hat-trick.
That was their biggest win since March 2022.
Elijah Adebayo salary
Elijah Adebayo currently earns £12,500 a week, with an annual salary of £650,000. This is a massive improvement from the previous season when he was paid £577 a week.
The former Fulham player signed a contract extension with Luton Town in July 2023.
He is currently valued at €7m according to Transfermarkt.
