Kanu Nwankwo’s shirt used to make keyrings
Arsenal have designed a Christmas keyring from a shirt worn by former striker Kanu Nwankwo.
In a 34-second video posted on Arsenal social media platforms, the north London club creative department designed a key ring for fans as they get into the yuletide shopping mood.
With the caption, Still struggling for gift ideas? on Twitter, the club showed that its got ingenuity beyond playing football on the pitch.
SEE VIDEO
Still struggling for gift ideas?
Check out this keyring made from a match-worn @papilokanu shirt ➡️ https://t.co/qU48w9Rqm1 pic.twitter.com/fhODv5pByF
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) December 13, 2016
Kanu, 40, joined Arsenal in February 1999, after just twelve games and one goal for Inter Milan.
Kanu was signed by Arsenal for approximately £4.15 million. He made his debut for Arsenal, against Sheffield United in the FA Cup.
With the score 1–1 and ten minutes to go, the Sheffield United goalkeeper Alan Kelly kicked the ball out of touch so that treatment could be given to Lee Morris.
When the ball was thrown back into play by Ray Parlour, although it was intended for Kelly, Kanu chased the throw-in down the right wing unchallenged and centered the ball for Marc Overmars, who scored to make the match 2–1.
After the match, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger accepted that it was not right sport-wise and offered to re-play the match which was again won by Arsenal.
Despite the events overshadowing his debut, Kanu’s career was quickly revived at Arsenal.
He scored his first goal for the club in the next round of the cup against Derby County, coming off the bench to net the only goal of the game.
He quickly became known for his goalscoring prowess from the bench, scoring important goals against Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa as a substitute.
He became very popular among the fans for his two-fingered salute which started in 1999 against Middlesbrough – something that he later explained was based on the team’s nickname, The Gunners.
He was named African Footballer of the Year for the second time in 1999.
In the 1999-2000 season he scored 17 times in 50 matches for the Gunners, including a hat-trick in fifteen minutes against Chelsea to turn a 2–0 deficit into a 3–2 victory.
In August 2001, Arsenal rejected a bid from Fulham of around £7m for Kanu.
However, Kanu’s appearances for Arsenal gradually became less frequent, particularly after the emergence of Thierry Henry as Arsenal’s first choice striker with Kanu being mainly used as a substitute.
Kanu won the FA Cup in 2003 and the Premier League title in 2004 with Arsenal.
He played 197 games for Arsenal, scoring 44 goals. In the summer of 2004, after his contract with Arsenal ended, he moved to West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer.
In 2008, Kanu was voted 13th in the “Gunners’ Greatest 50 Players” poll.
Along with other famous players, such as Henry and Robert Pirès, Kanu is a member of the “Invincibles”, the Arsenal side that finished the 2003–04 season of the Barclays Premier League undefeated.
