KANU’S BACK-HEEL AT THE RIVERSIDE
“It shows what happens when you believe in yourself and take the chance. I took the risk and it paid off.”
Speaking in 2016, Kanu reflects on his strike at the Riverside.
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When Kanu signed from Inter Milan in January 1999, Arsenal fans weren't really sure what to expect.
The 22-year-old had barely featured in the first half of the campaign in Italy, he'd not long recovered from a heart-valve operation and his knees had been causing him problems.
Sure, Dennis Bergkamp had struggled at the San Siro prior to his arrival in England. And yes, Marc Overmars had undergone ACL surgery before joining the Gunners. But a heart defect? It felt like Wenger was potentially pushing his luck when it came to taking punts in the transfer market.
On the other hand, the £4.5 million fee wasn't a huge sum of money and Kanu did arrive with a glittering CV compared to Fabian Caballero (on loan for the season) and Kaba Diawara, who joined from Bordeaux the same month.
The striker had featured alongside Overmars when Ajax beat AC Milan in the 1995 Champions League final and then played the full 120 minutes when they lost on penalties to (an allegedly doped up) Juventus in the 1996 final. He'd also captained Nigeria to Olympic Gold in Atlanta before Inter made their move.
Trailing Manchester United in the title race, Arsenal were in need of a boost and Wenger hoped Kanu was the man to provide it. As it turned out, the Nigerian’s impact wasn’t immediate. Well, aside from an on-field misunderstanding during the FA Cup fifth round win over Sheffield United that resulted in Wenger offering a replay.
Even skinnier and lankier than Patrick Vieira, he took a few weeks to get to grips with the physicality of English football. And while he’d eventually become a favourite on the terraces, there were many at Highbury who initially struggled to appreciate Kanu’s laconic style.
By April, the penny had dropped; the blue touch paper lit by a brilliant performance at Middlesbrough.
Reporting on Arsenal’s 6-1 win at the Riverside, the BBC Sport remarked, “On a day when every one of the visiting team was at the top of their game, Kanu stood out above the rest.”
The Gunners raced into an early lead thanks to Marc Overmars’ penalty before Nicolas Anelka and Kanu turned the screw before the break. Patrick Vieira was next on the scoresheet making it 4-0 before Kanu produced his extravagant party piece.
As Ray Parlour and Lee Dixon exchanged passes on the edge of the box, Kanu loped from deep into a dangerous position expecting a cross. As his right-back swung in the ball, he was alert to the opportunity but his run took him so far past Mark Schwarzer’s near post that any form of orthodox shot was out of the question.
Most players would have taken a touch and tried to play in a teammate but Kanu instead chose to improvise, producing the most nonchalant of back-heel finishes on the volley. As the ball rolled into the far corner, even the Boro fans burst into spontaneous applause.
The next morning, The Guardian struggled to describe the finish: “What Kanu did was rush at the speeding ball, accept it first time and initiate a sort of airborne Cruyff turn all in the one liquid move. With a flick cum drag-back he dispatched a back-heel volley into the bottom corner. It probably had back-spin on it.”
Kanu rounded off his afternoon with an assist for Anelka before Boro rounded off the scoring with a consolation. For a brief moment, it looked like Arsenal were well-placed to halt Manchester United’s charge to the Treble. The less said about that, the better.
Speaking to the Arsenal official website in 2016, Kanu reflected: “We were 4-0 up and that’s the time that you get to try a lot of different things. If you try and fail in those situations, nobody can have a go at you for trying.”
“I’ve watched it again many times and I didn’t realise how far out I was. Some players only try that sort of thing next to the goalkeeper or around the six-yard box. I was near the edge of the area, so it definitely took a lot of skill to beat the goalkeeper from there, but it’s a skill I’ve been practising since I was playing football as a youngster in Nigeria.”
With the game not shown live on television, most Arsenal supporters - the pocket of away fans aside - had to wait until Match of the Day later that night to get their first glimpse of the goal. It was worth it.
