Idris Kanu

Idris Kanu (born 5 December 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for League One club Peterborough United.

Idris Kanu
Personal information
Full name Idris Kanu[1]
Date of birth (1999-12-05) 5 December 1999[2]
Place of birth London, England[3]
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[4]
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Peterborough United
Number 19
Youth career
2010–2016 West Ham United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2017 Aldershot Town 29 (3)
2017– Peterborough United 32 (0)
2018–2019 → Port Vale (loan) 3 (1)
2019 → Boreham Wood (loan) 18 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 January 2021 (UTC)

He began playing football with West Ham United at the age of 11 and spent six years with the club. He signed for Aldershot Town in October 2016 and at the age of 16 became the club's youngest ever player and goalscorer in league competitions. He joined Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee in August 2017, from where he was loaned out to Port Vale for the first half of the 2018–19 season and then Boreham Wood in the latter half of the season.

Club career

Early career

Kanu was recruited into the West Ham United academy at the age of 11 after impressing in a trial game for Barking and Dagenham district.[5] He appeared for the "Hammers" Under-21 team at the age of 15.[6] In September 2016, following his release from West Ham, he underwent a trial with Manchester United's Under-18 side and scored twice in a match against Middlesbrough.[7] A permanent move failed to materialize, however, and Kanu later revealed he rejected an offer from the Premier League club in order to play senior football regularly.[8]

Aldershot Town

On 7 October 2016, National League side Aldershot Town completed the signing of Kanu on an amateur contract after he had impressed during training sessions with the club.[5] Upon signing, he was reunited with James Rowe, the club's assistant manager who he had previously worked with at West Ham.[9] He made his debut the following day, coming on as a late substitute for Bernard Mensah in a 2–0 win over Solihull Moors at the Recreation Ground.[9] In doing so, at the age of 16 years and 308 days, Kanu became the youngest player ever to feature for the "Shots" in a league match.[10] He scored his first professional goal in the following match, netting in a 2–1 FA Cup defeat at home to Eastbourne Borough.[11] Kanu's first league goal came on 12 November when he scored the opening goal in a 3–3 draw at Lincoln City.[11] Upon scoring, Kanu broke another record by becoming the club's youngest ever goalscorer in league competition, aged 16 years and 343 days.[10] On 5 December, he signed his first professional contract with the club on his 17th birthday, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal.[10][12] He received his first ever red card the following year, when he was dismissed for two bookable offences in a 1–0 win over Dover Athletic on 17 April.[13] Kanu ultimately scored five goals in 33 appearances across all competitions as Gary Waddock's side fell just short of promotion at the end of the 2016–17 season, losing out to Tranmere Rovers in the play-off semi-finals.[14]

Peterborough United

On 1 August 2017, Kanu signed a three-year deal with League One side Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee.[15] He made his English Football League debut for the club on 5 August, coming on as a second-half substitute for Junior Morias in a 2–1 win over Plymouth Argyle at London Road.[16] Speaking at the end of the month, Peterborough manager Grant McCann said that he was very pleased with Kanu's progress.[17] However, McCann was sacked and replaced by Steve Evans in February 2018 and Kanu had to wait until the last day of the 2017–18 season to make his first start, featuring in a 2–0 defeat at Portsmouth.[18] Kanu made a total of 28 appearances during the campaign and Evans later announced that he would be made available to leave the club on loan the following season.[19][20] Kanu scored his first goal for the "Posh" in an 2–0 win over Northampton Town in an EFL Trophy tie on 3 September 2019.[21]

On 28 June 2018, Kanu joined League Two side Port Vale on a season-long loan deal.[19] On 29 September, he came off the bench to make his first league appearance at Vale Park and scored his first ever goal in the Football League with a header seven minutes into injury-time to secure a 1–1 draw with Exeter City.[22] However, he started just three games and made a further four substitute appearances thereafter and was recalled to Peterborough on 3 January 2019.[23]

On 4 January 2019, Kanu joined National League side Boreham Wood on a "long-term" loan deal; "Wood" manager Luke Garrard said that he was "very excited" to bring Kanu to Meadow Park.[24] He made his debut the following day, opening the scoring in a 4–4 draw at Dagenham & Redbridge.[25] He ended the 2018–19 season with four goals in 19 appearances for Boreham Wood.

He signed a new deal with Peterborough on 7 February 2020, which would keep him at the club until summer 2023; manager Darren Ferguson said that "I think he's got potential, so it's important we tied him down."[26] He scored one goal in ten games during the 2019–20 season, which was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, and was one of ten players to be taken off furlough in order to take part in one-on-one training with Ferguson.[27]

International career

Kanu is eligible to represent England as his country of birth, as well as Sierra Leone through his parental lineage.[28]

Career statistics
As of match played 29 February 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
LeagueAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Aldershot Town 2016–17[4] National League 29311003[lower-alpha 1]0334
Peterborough United 2017–18[29] League One 18030106[lower-alpha 2]0280
2018–19[30] League One 0000000000
2019–20[31] League One 6000004[lower-alpha 2]1101
2020–21[31] League One 0000000000
Total 2403010101381
Port Vale (loan) 2018–19[30] League Two 3100103[lower-alpha 2]071
Boreham Wood (loan) 2018–19[4] National League 18400001[lower-alpha 3]0194
Career total 74841201719710
  1. 2 appearances in play-offs and 1 appearance in FA Trophy.
  2. Appearance/s in EFL Trophy.
  3. Appearance/s in FA Trophy

References
  1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2019" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  2. "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2018/2019". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. "Reading FC: Aldershot Town hand teenage wonderkid Idris Kanu first pro deal to ward off Royals interest". Reading Chronicle. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  4. Idris Kanu at Soccerway. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  5. "Idris Kanu: Aldershot Town sign former West Ham United youngster". BBC Sport. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. O'Donovan, Ryan (11 October 2016). "Idris Kanu: All you need to know about Shots new signing". Get Hampshire. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  7. Tuck, James (5 September 2016). "Video: U18s - Manchester United 5 Middlesbrough 1". Manchester United F.C. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  8. O'Donovan, Ryan (29 November 2016). "Why did Idris Kanu join Aldershot instead of Manchester United?". Get Surrey. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  9. O'Donovan, Ryan (11 October 2016). "Idris Kanu: From Manchester United to Aldershot Town – all you need to know about the 16-year-old". Get Hampshire. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  10. "Idris Signs First Professional Contract". Aldershot Football Club. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  11. O'Donovan, Ryan (29 November 2016). "Aldershot Town wonderkid Idris Kanu explains why he chose team over Manchester United". Get Surrey. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  12. "Idris Kanu: Aldershot Town forward signs contract until 2019". BBC Sport. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  13. "Aldershot Town 1-0 Dover Athletic". BBC. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  14. "Tranmere into National League promotion final". BBC. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  15. "Posh Secure Signing Of Highly-Rated Kanu". Peterborough F.C. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  16. "Peterborough United vs. Plymouth Argyle". Soccerway. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  17. Swann, Alan (22 August 2017). "REPORT: Manager McCann delighted with Kanu progress". Peterborough Today. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  18. "Portsmouth 2-0 Peterborough United". BBC Sport. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  19. "Idris Kanu & Theo Vassell: Port Vale sign Peterborough striker and Gateshead defender". BBC Sports. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  20. Smeaton, Graham (7 May 2018). "Retained list - Peterborough boss Evans offers unlucky 13 transfers from club - The72". the72.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  21. "Kanu nets first Posh goal in derby win". Peterborough United. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  22. Baggaley, Michael (30 September 2018). "Neil Aspin praises Port Vale's Idris Kanu after landmark goal". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  23. Baggaley, Michael (3 January 2019). "Idris Kanu returns to Peterborough from Port Vale". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  24. "Boreham Wood bring in Idris Kanu". The Non League Football Paper - Daily football news. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  25. "Dagenham & Redbridge 4-4 Boreham Wood". BBC Sport. 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  26. "Idris Kanu: Peterborough United midfielder signs deal until 2023". BBC Sport. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  27. Swann, Alan (29 June 2020). "Peterborough United's 'Fergie fledglings' to return to training as club start preparations for 2020-21 season". www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  28. Ifeanyi, Emmanuel (21 December 2016). "Man City Target Idris Kanu Clarifies : I Am Not Eligible To Represent Nigeria". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  29. "Games played by Idris Kanu in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  30. "Games played by Idris Kanu in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
  31. "Games played by Idris Kanu in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
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