When Arsenal formally announced Bukayo Saka’s new contract on February 19 2026, it was a statement about where Nigerian-heritage talent now sits in the global football economy.
Bukayo Saka’s parents, Adenike and Yomi Saka, are of Nigerian Yoruba descent and emigrated to London in the 1990s as economic migrants.
His family is among the many Nigerians who left the country during that period.
The Ealing-born Arsenal winger has just signed a five-year deal worth in excess of 300,000 pounds per week until 2031, making him now Arsenal’s highest earner.
Nairametrics understands that over the life of the deal, Saka will earn £78 million in base salary, even before image rights, bonuses, and his endorsement partnerships with Adidas, Pepsi, and others.
More than ever before, the market value of Nigerian and Nigerian-descent footballers is at an all-time high. From Istanbul to Madrid, from Bergamo to north London, Nigerians in the diaspora, playing the most followed sport in Nigeria, are reshaping the financial map of world football.
Nairametrics’s Nigerian business in diaspora desk ranks the ten highest-earning footballers of Nigerian heritage in 2026 based on weekly wages, contract value, club status, and endorsement power.
- Weekly Wage (Est.) : 58,800 pounds (at least)
- Annual Salary (Est.) : 3.1 million pounds
- Contract Until : 2027
The Nigerian Super Eagles captain was born on December 16, 1996, in Lagos and began his football career there before he moved abroad.
His European football career began in 2015 with Belgian side Genk, before he moved to Leicester City in 2017, where he spent eight seasons and won the FA Cup and the Community Shield. He joined Besiktas following the English club’s relegation and subsequent financial restructuring.
The 28-year-old Kaduna-born midfielder has played 75 times for Nigeria’s national team. He earns a highly competitive salary by Turkish top-flight standards, roughly equivalent to his later wages at Leicester.
Sadly, his father, Sunday Ndidi, a former military officer, died in a road accident in Umunede, Delta state last month.
