Paul Onuachu: Football Profile, Trabzonspor, Super Eagles Caps and Net Worth

Paul Onuachu is a Nigerian football striker, born Ebere Paul Onuachu in Owerri on 28 May 1994 and standing 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in). He joined Trabzonspor in Turkey on loan in 2023 and permanently in 2025. His honours with Nigeria include AFCON medals from 2019, 2023 and 2025. South African readers who follow their soccer through Bafana Bafana will know him from those tournament nights.

What follows is his road from Midtjylland to Trabzon with every reported fee, the record season at Genk and a clear look at the Southampton spell. It also lists every published net worth and salary figure with its outlet and date. In my opinion, a big man up front is like the conductor on a Lagos danfo. Everyone notices him, and the whole bus moves better when he is doing his job well.

Who Is Paul Onuachu?

Paul Onuachu is a Super Eagles target man whose height and finishing have made him, arguably, one of the most productive African forwards in European football since 2019. To the end of the 2025-26 season his record includes 79 league goals for Genk and two Danish Superliga titles with Midtjylland. It also includes the Belgian Golden Shoe of 2021 and a share of the Süper Lig top scorer award in 2025-26. His achievements in Belgium and Turkey give Lagos viewing centres plenty to discuss alongside his Premier League experience.

Away from the pitch, he married Ghanaian Tracy Acheampong in 2022. That gives Black Stars supporters in Accra and Kumasi a reason to follow a Super Eagles forward with more warmth than the usual rivalry allows. You will see his name as Onuachu or Ebere Paul Onuachu on most team sheets, and some outlets spell it Paul Onauchu.

The Road From Owerri: Every Club and Every Reported Fee

Onuachu built his career in Denmark. He signed for Midtjylland in 2012 and stayed until 2019, making 134 league appearances and scoring 51 goals. Those years brought the Danish Superliga titles of 2014-15 and 2017-18 and the Danish Cup of 2018-19, so he left Denmark with two league titles and a cup.

Genk signed him in August 2019 for about €6 million, which was roughly ₦2.7 billion at the exchange rate of the time. Over four seasons in Belgium he scored 79 league goals in 114 appearances, close to seven goals in every ten matches. On 16 April 2021, Midtjylland's sporting director Claus Steinlein said Genk could sell him for €35 to 40 million. That was his opinion of the market, not an offer or a fee, but it shows how far his value had travelled in under two years.

Southampton brought him to the Premier League in 2023, and he was registered with the club until 2025, making 36 league appearances and scoring 4 goals. Midway through that spell, Trabzonspor took him on loan for 2023-24. The move turned out to be the hinge of his career, because he scored 15 league goals in 21 appearances in his first Turkish season and gave the club every reason to want him back.

Trabzonspor made the move permanent in 2025, on a contract running to June 2028. In the 2025-26 season he scored both goals in the club's Turkish Cup final win and shared the Süper Lig top scorer award, which put him among the Nigerians who have shone in Turkish football. His goals and appearances since the permanent move are in the stats module, which updates after every match, so the table below stops at the seasons that are complete.

Why Did the Southampton Spell Bring Fewer Goals?

His Southampton spell from 2023 to 2025 brought 4 goals in 36 league appearances, while his 2020-21 season at Genk produced 33 league goals. In my opinion, a target man depends heavily on service. Onuachu scores most when the supply is aimed at his strengths, and that is what Trabzonspor built around him.

Trabzonspor gave him a prominent role in attack. It could be argued that in Turkey he became the clear focal point, with a system shaped around his reach, and the return of 15 league goals in 21 games in 2023-24 followed. So, the lesson for Super Eagles fans is a practical one. Onuachu is at his most dangerous when the team plays to him, and every Nigeria coach has the same choice to make in each international window.

What Does Onuachu Do on the Pitch?

Onuachu is a classic number nine who wins the ball in the air, holds it up with his back to goal and finishes from close range. At 2.01 m he gives defenders a problem they rarely meet. Heading is the obvious strength, but his calm touch inside the box is what turned chances into 79 league goals at Genk. For a Nigerian comparison, he offers a different profile from the quicker runners in the Super Eagles forward line.

His defining club season is 2020-21 at Genk, when he scored 33 league goals and broke Wesley Sonck's club record of 30. No player had scored that many in the Belgian top flight since 1980. The same season brought the Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year award and the Golden Shoe. He also won the Ebony Shoe, given to the best player of African origin in Belgium, and lifted the Belgian Cup with Genk.

He added another landmark on 4 November 2022, scoring four goals against Charleroi, the first Genk player to manage that since Sonck in 2003. In Turkey, the 2025-26 Turkish Cup final belongs on the same list. He scored both of Trabzonspor's goals in the win, and in my opinion that is the kind of final that turns a signing into a club hero for a generation of supporters.

If you are watching him for the first time, keep your eyes on the far post when a cross comes in, because that is where he is most dangerous. Watch, too, how often a long ball to him becomes a second chance for the midfielders arriving behind. Use the stats module to follow his goals and minutes this season.

Onuachu and the Super Eagles: Egypt Goal, AFCON Medals and the Caps Module

Onuachu scored within the first ten seconds against Egypt on 26 March 2019, the fastest goal in Nigeria's history. That is the match I would show anyone who asks what he brings to the Super Eagles. The goal still comes up whenever Lagos fans debate who should lead the line.

He was in the squad for three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in a row and came home with a medal from each: third place in 2019, runners up in 2023 and third again in 2025. The squad module carries the call ups as they are announced.

Onuachu spoke in 2026 of how much the World Cup qualifying campaign meant to him. South African fans followed that qualifying story closely, given the long rivalry between Bafana Bafana and Nigeria. In my opinion, a settled forward line with a clear plan gives a finisher with his record a defined role.

In Lagos, the argument is often Onuachu against Victor Osimhen, and in my opinion it is the wrong question. Osimhen runs in behind defences, Onuachu wins the ball above a crowded box, and a Nigeria side chasing a late goal can use both. For the other forwards in the conversation, start with our guide to African footballers.

Paul Onuachu net worth

Pulse Nigeria estimated Paul Onuachu's net worth at about USD 9.7 million in a 2026 profile. Afrik-foot put it at roughly USD 5 million to 10 million in a 2026 profile. Readers can convert either figure at the day's rate into naira, Kenyan shillings, rand, cedis or Ugandan shillings. Both figures are published estimates, not accounts.

On salary, Pulse Nigeria reported in 2026 a Trabzonspor wage of €2.5 million a year (about €48,077 a week) plus a €380,000 bonus, roughly €2.88 million in total. Afrik-foot cited an estimate of €2.5 million a year with up to €630,000 in bonuses. Afrik-foot also reported Trabzonspor's disclosed salary figure of €1.7425 million for his 2023-24 loan season.

Genk paid about €6 million in August 2019. In April 2021, Claus Steinlein of Midtjylland gave his view that Genk could sell him for €35 to 40 million, but that was an opinion, never a fee.

So, why do the estimates differ so much? A transfer fee goes to the selling club, not the player, so the €6 million from Genk was never his money. A wage is also not net worth. What a footballer keeps depends on agent costs, family commitments, spending and investments, and none of those are public. That is why the best way to read USD 9.7 million is as an informed estimate, while the 2023-24 club disclosure deserves more weight than any round number.

How to Watch Onuachu From Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda

An evening following Onuachu in Turkish football needs no clock adjustment for viewers in Kenya or Uganda, because Turkey keeps their hours throughout the year. A 20:00 start in Trabzon translates to Lagos at 18:00 WAT, Nairobi and Kampala at 20:00 EAT, Johannesburg at 19:00 SAST and Accra at 17:00 GMT. Before arranging to watch the Nigerian striker at a viewing centre, read the regional kick off entries in Trabzonspor's fixtures module.

Onuachu followers can select Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana or Uganda in the viewing module to find coverage available where they live. Broadcast listings adjust with territorial agreements, helping supporters locate his Turkish club games and Nigeria appearances. When the timing does not suit, highlights let viewers study the striker's aerial work and touches around goal.

For international viewing, confirm Onuachu's inclusion through the squad module before choosing the relevant WAT, EAT, SAST or GMT entry beside Nigeria's fixture. Base your reminder on that local entry so you are ready to watch him from the opening whistle. His strike against Egypt after only ten seconds in 2019 gives Super Eagles supporters a particular reason to settle in early.