Teenager of Nigerian heritage says goodbye at Shamrock Rovers before his Arsenal move
Victor Ozhianvuna, who turns 18 in January, signed off after 11 years at the Irish club by lifting the league trophy.
Dublin — Victor Ozhianvuna, the Irish teenager whose father is Nigerian, has said farewell to Shamrock Rovers ahead of his move to Arsenal in the January transfer window. His name has been trending on Google in Nigeria this week.
Arsenal agreed the deal in October 2025, when he was 16 and too young to link up formally with the club. He turns 18 in January, so the transfer can now be completed. The fee was reported at around €2 million, and Rovers described it as a landmark transfer in Irish football.
In a message on Instagram, he said he was leaving after 11 years at the club that brought him through its academy and into first-team football. He wrote that the last few months had been difficult because of an injury, but that he could not have asked for a better way to sign off than winning the league and lifting the trophy in front of the fans.
Ozhianvuna joined Rovers' academy at the age of six. Reports describe him as an Ireland under-17 international, with a Nigerian father and a Russian mother.
Source: Daily Cannon, Irish Examiner, The Irish Times, November 2026.
