John Utaka Bio Send To Friend  

The pacy striker made a strong start to his Fratton Park career, scoring on his debut against Derby County. He finished his first season having scored five goals in 29 appearances.

Utaka is sure to go down in Pompey folklore for being the player that laid on the pass for Nwankwo Kanu to score the winning goal in the club's 1-0 FA Cup final win over Cardiff in May 2008.

The Nigeria international, who can operate as a striker or a winger, played for Arab Contractors, Ismaily (Egypt) and Al Sadd (Qatar) before moving to Europe to play for French club Racing Club Lens.

He moved to Lens after playing for Nigeria at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan and he is an important player for his county, also playing in the African Nations Cup in 2004 and 2006.

The player spent three successful years at Lens before moving to Rennes in 2005. He struggled to make an impact at first until having a great second half of 2005/06 during which he netted back-to-back Ligue 1 hat-tricks.

Utaka then scored 10 goals in 35 appearances in the League in 2006/07.

He prefers to play in behind the strikers, using his considerable speed and ability on the ball to cause problems and create space for others.