Silas Nwankwo, 18, is successful at Allsvenskan.
Now he is responding to speculation about his age.
– It’s just lies. It was crazy, says the striker, who praised Milabi’s support.
He stumbled, slipped, hit, and stabbed balls into the goal. Silas Nwankwo’s combination of hard work, awkward playing style and decisive performance in the match quickly made him a key player at Milalbe.
I’ve always scored the kind of goals that people don’t think I should be able to achieve. Then I missed “simple” goals. But he says the things I shouldn’t have been able to do, I always got in.
Water against Otino
But this was hardly a matter of course. The 18-year-old broke in when he signed for the Listers this spring. Because after Nwankwo was ready for Mjällby, Twitter exploded by – not least – Nigerian football fans who thought the teen was “actually” much older than 18. Discussion and information reached Sweden and sporting director Hasse Larsson was allowed to speak in the local press.
– I don’t have any social media myself, but purely spontaneously, I think this is very disrespectful. Some say he’s 24, some say he’s 26 and some say he’s 32. Someone saw him partying in Mallorca. Larson told Blekingesport it’s just nonsense to keep doing that.
Nwankwo beat AIK with a killer but important solo goal when he pushed his way past talented AIK full-back Eric Otieno.
– Perhaps he thought he would win the duel! But this time I was stronger. He collapsed and was left standing. Next time, maybe it’s the other way around?
“Everyone loves me at Mjällby”
In the mixed zone, Nwankwo talked about the difficulty of spreading rumors and talking about his age.
– This is my past now. If I wasn’t as strong as I am, I might not have scored as many goals as I did. After all that speculation. It’s just lies, everything. You put it behind me.
He is happy to handle a difficult situation in a strong way.
At first it was crazy. I couldn’t even go out online! I was surprised by everything that happened and was said about me. But Mjällby was always pushing and supporting me.
– The club was great. Everyone loves me here, laughing and pointing to his walking teammate Carlos Moros Gracia:
– Carlos loves me. Everyone loves me. You can come across difficult events if everyone is behind an event done by the people in mylby.