The ex-Real Madrid midfielder has heaped praise on the nimble-footed Nigeria international after his notable display for Villarreal on Saturday
LaLiga ambassador Mutiu Adepoju has described Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze as “exciting” following the Yellow Submarine’s 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Estadio de Balaidos on Saturday night.
Javier Calleja’s men came into the encounter with the ambition of returning to winning ways – having lost three successive league games before the coronavirus pandemic placed Spanish football on a hiatus.
After a hard-hitting first half, super-sub Manuel Trigueros sealed all points at stake for the visitors in the 90th minute.
Chukwueze who replaced Gerard Moreno in the 56th minute played a key role as he added a greater threat to Villarreal’s frontline.
For his contributions in 32 minutes, he recorded two shots, one shot on target, 14 passes and a 64.3 passing accuracy.
Even at that, the former Real Madrid and Real Sociedad midfielder reserved special words of praise for Chukwueze, whose outstanding skills and athleticism caused Oscar Junyent’s men all manner of problems down the flank.
He went further urging him to keep improving as well as work on his goalscoring capabilities.
“Great performance from Samuel Chukwueze against Celta Vigo at the Estadio de Balaidos,” Adepoju tweeted.
“What an exciting player he is! I hope he keeps improving as well as works more on his goalscoring abilities.”
The ‘Head Master' had earlier told Goal the U17 World Cup winner can get to a better level in Spain if he maintains his inspiring form.
“Chukwueze is another young player who is doing well in LaLiga. I believe in the next one year, he's going to explode if he continues that way,” he told Goal.
“What happens to West Africans is that sometimes when you get to a certain stage, you believe that you've arrived, but if he keeps his cool and he continues progressing, developing the way he is, I believe he's going to get into a big team which is going to make him explode at any given time.”
The fixture against the Sky Blues was the 21-year-old’s 27th Spanish elite division game of the season where he boasts three goals – achieved against Celta Vigo, Real Betis and Granada.
Following this win, Calleja’s side moved to eighth in the LaLiga log having accrued 41 points from 28 games, while Celta Vigo dropped to the relegation zone with just 26 points from the same number of outings.
Villarreal welcome struggling Real Mallorca to the Estadio de la Ceramica for their next outing on Tuesday, while Celta are guests of Real Valladolid a day later.
Mallorca’s last away game ended in a 2-1 triumph Eibar on March 7, 2020.