Birthday Boys- Arturo Vidal and Samuel Chukwueze

Today’s edition of the Birthday Boys sees Arturo Vidal and Samuel Chukwueze being the next two players that career’s we look through.

Arturo Vidal

Credit: Goal.com

Arturo Vidal turns 33 today and has played at a few clubs in his career so far. He’s won plenty at every club he has been at but, where did it all begin for the midfielder.

Vidal broke through into Chilean side Colo Colo first team in 2005 making the step up from U19 football into senior football.

In two years of playing football at Colo Colo, he only made six first team appearances scoring two goals in two years.

Bayer Leverkusen paid £5 million for the services of the midfielder in July 2007 to enable the Chilean a move away from his native country.

His first season in Germany would see the midfielder make 33 appearances in all competitions scoring once and assisting four times.  More game time came for Vidal in the 08/09 season making 35 appearances and contributing to more goals scoring six and assisting five.

One of Vidal’s best seasons came in the 10/11 campaign. He made 44 appearances for Bayer scoring 14 times and assisting ten from midfield.

After that season, Juventus hunted the midfielder down paying Leverkusen £12 million for the Chilean in July 2011.  His first season for the Old Lady saw him play 35 games and score seven goals, assisting a further four.

The 12/13 season was another great one for Vidal. He appeared 45 times for Juve scoring an astonishing 15 goals and assisting 12 times. The 13/14 season was also a great one, making 46 appearances this time scoring 18 goals grabbing five assists.

In the 14/15 season the form slowly dropped off for Vidal. Still making 40+ appearances in all competition but, was only able to score eight goals and get four assists.

In July 2015, Bayern Munich signed the midfielder for £35 million. In his first season back in Germany he made 48 appearances scoring seven goals and contributed 12 assists.

The next two seasons would see Vidal make a combined 76 appearances in all competitions scoring 15 goals adding six assists.

In August 2018, Vidal signed for FC Barcelona for £15 million as they looked for a midfielder to replace Andres Iniesta. he has made 84 appearances for Barca in the past two seasons scoring nine goals and getting ten assists.

On the International stage, he has made 115 appearances for Chile scoring 28 goals for the National Team which is an incredible feat by the player and looks like he will be set to make more.

He’s a born winner to point out the obvious. He won the Chilean League with Colo Colo twice, Serie A four times, Italian Cup and Italian Supercup twice with Juventus, German Supercup twice, German Cup and Bundesliga three times with Bayern, Spanish Supercup and La Liga with Barcelona and he’s won two Copa America’s with Chile.

The man is a machine and is bound to continue for a few years yet and will be performing at the top level until he retires.

Samuel Chukwueze

Credit: Goal.com

Villarreal’s wonderkid Samuel Chukwueze turns 21 today and he’s risen up to the challenge at the Spanish club but, how did Chukwueze get to Villarreal.

Villarreal paid in the Nigerian Diamond Academy £400,000 for the then 18-year-old forward.

He made a rapid rise through the ranks at the Spanish club. It took him a year to get from the U19’s to the B team and in November 2018 he reached the senior team in a year and three months he made the rise from Nigeria to La Liga football.

In his first season for Villarreal, he made 38 appearances scoring eight times and assisting three times showing that he can adapt to the playing style quickly.

Before the 19/20 season was cut short he made 30 appearances scoring four goals and assisting four but, could have scored and assisted a lot more if football was still on.

He has been on many teams radars as he has many things to his game. Pace, dribbling, shooting, assisting he has those things and that’s why giants like Liverpool are looking to sign the player.

On the International stage, he has already made 12 appearance for the Nigeria National Team scoring twice in that time and is bound to be a hero for Nigeria in the coming years.

He’s only won one trophy which is the U17 World Cup with Nigeria in 2015 with that tournament giving us a flavour of what Chukwueze was about.