Super Eagles striker, Paul Onuachu, has won the Best Player and Golden Bull (highest scorer) awards in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, capping off an insanely remarkable campaign that saw him score 33 goals and provide three assists for KRC Genk who finished second on the log.
He bagged the prize on Monday night at the Belgian Pro League Awards traditional gala held at the JAM hotel in Brussels following a stunning 2020/2021 campaign in which the 26-year-old scored the goals in 38 league matches and play-offs.
“Paul Onuachu can call himself the Professional Footballer of the Jupiler Pro League for a year,” the league wrote on its website.
“The KRC Genk striker was voted as the best player of the past season by his colleagues. Onuachu scored 33 times last season, making it the player with the most goals behind his name.”
The imposing striker, who made headlines all season, bulldozed his way to the awards after beating Club Brugge’s Noa Lang and Beerschot’s forward Raphael Holzhauser.
He is also in contention for the Ebony Shoe Award for the Best Player of African descent in the league where he will battle Congolese-born Belgian striker, Theo Batombo Bonganda; Angola’s Club Brugge defender, Clinton Mata; Anderlecht’s Anglo-Nigerian forward, Lukas Nmecha and Congolese-born Belgian star, Sambi Lokonga, who features for Anderlecht.
Onuachu, who formerly played for FC Midtjylland, netted 35 goals in 41 games across all competitions for the Blue-White, pushing them to lift the Belgian Cup in spectacular fashion.
Before now, he was voted into the Belgian Pro League Team of the Season alongside a teammate, Bryan Heymen.
Gunning For Gold
The Nigerian joined the Belgian outfit from Midtjylland for a fee of €7 and his sizzling form has seen him linked with a move away from the Luminus Arena with a host of top European sides set to jostle for his signature when the transfer window opens this summer.
Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr will be banking on the scoring prowess of the Ebonyi-born striker when Nigeria take on bitter rivals, Cameroon in a friendly match billed for June 4th in Vienna, Austria.
Since making his debut for the three-time African champions in 2019, Onuachu has scored three goals for Nigeria, including his maiden strike against Egypt in a friendly game that earned him the fastest goal scorer tag for the Eagles.
He is also expected to play a prominent role for the West Africans in next year’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON), a tournament he said the team is aiming to go the whole haul.
“We will just have to go there and take the gold,” he told NFF TV after scoring the lone goal against the Benin Republic in a qualification match for the competition