Three and a half years ago, according to Sport5, Bnei Sakhnin gave a trial to an unheralded Nigerian defender and decided he was not worth a contract. That player, Chibuike Nwaiwu, is now closing in on a Premier League move to Fulham in a deal reportedly worth close to €30 million.
Nwaiwu, 22, arrived in Israel in November 2023 under strange circumstances. His club at the time, Nigerian champions Enyimba, had declared him missing after he left the team without authorisation. He resurfaced training with Bnei Sakhnin, sparking speculation of a move to Ligat Ha'al — but the club never signed him, and he was back in Nigeria within weeks.
It did not slow him down for long. Back at Enyimba, the 1.93-metre centre-back helped the club win the 2022-23 Nigeria Premier Football League title, before moving on to Austria's Wolfsberger AC in 2024, where he started in the final as Wolfsberg won their first-ever domestic trophy, the 2024-25 Austrian Cup.
In January 2026, Trabzonspor paid around €6 million to bring him to the Turkish Süper Lig. He barely paused for breath: 21 appearances, three goals and an assist later, Nwaiwu had helped the club lift the Turkish Cup and finish third in the league table.
That form has driven a rapid rise in his value — Transfermarkt currently rates him at around €10 million, a figure the market is already well past. Fulham, needing central-defensive cover, have agreed personal terms with Nwaiwu on a contract through 2030, according to reports in England and Nigeria.
The two clubs are still closing a gap on the transfer fee. Trabzonspor opened by demanding close to €30 million; Fulham's offer has risen to around €27 million guaranteed plus add-ons, with a sell-on clause reportedly attached for the Turkish side. Nwaiwu is expected to travel to England for a medical once terms are finalised.
Crystal Palace are shadowing the deal. With Maxence Lacroix closing in on a move to Chelsea, Palace have identified Nwaiwu as a possible replacement at the back — though he is understood to be their fallback option behind Augsburg's Chrislain Matsima, leaving Fulham the clear favourites to land him.
Nwaiwu already has three caps for Nigeria's senior side, having first been called into the Under-23 squad in 2023 ahead of Olympic qualifying. For a player an Israeli top-flight club chose not to sign three years ago, it is a startling turnaround — one Sport5 flagged, fittingly, under a headline that simply read "crazy."
