Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze was born on 22 May 1999, in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. He comes from a Christian Igbo family: his mother is Sarah Chukwueze, and his father is Emmanuel Chukwueze. Samuel has two siblings — a younger brother named David and a sister called Princess Adaeze. His father is a minister, and his mother used to work as a nurse. When he was very younger, his mother didn’t want him to play football. It was so bad that at one point she even burned his boots and his kit, urging him instead to focus on education.
Samuel went to Government College, Umuahia, and later to Evangel Secondary School. But even though school was important in his family, Samuel loved football. From around age five when he started playing, he was inspired by heroes like Jay‑Jay Okocha and later Arjen Robben.
Samuel Chukwueze began his youth football in Nigeria, first at Future Hope, then New Generation Academy, and finally Diamond Football Academy. His talent shone so brightly that, in 2017, at about 18 years old, he moved to Europe to join the youth system of Villarreal.
At the Spanish club, he first played for their B team in 2018, appearing in 20 matches and scoring 4 goals. Not long after that, he was promoted to the first team and made his senior debut for Villarreal in 2018, including in the UEFA Europa League, and played his first La Liga match on 5 November 2018 against Levante.
In five years, between 2018 and 2023, he played 155 league games for Villarreal’s first team and scored 21 goals. One of the biggest moments of his life was when the club won the UEFA Europa League in a penalty shoot-out over Manchester United in the 2020–21 season.
On the international level, Samuel Chukwueze played for Nigeria’s under-17 team. He was part of the squad that competed in the 2015 U-17 World Cup, where he played 7 games and scored 3 goals. Later, when he was 19, he made his senior debut for the Super Eagles of Nigeria on 20th November 2018, in a friendly match against Uganda. His first senior international goal came in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, when he scored in a quarter-final win over South Africa. As of November 2025, he has earned 51 caps for Nigeria and scored 7 goals for the national team.
Back to his club career. Samuel made a big move in July 2023. A top Italian club, AC Milan signed him from Villarreal. The deal was reported to be worth €20 million, plus up to €8 million in add-ons, for a total of around €28 million, and he signed a five-year contract that will keep him there till 30 June 2028.
During his time at Milan, he scored his first goal in a Champions League match, and then in March 2024, he scored his first league goal for them. There was also a match in April 2024 where he thought he had scored two goals, but they were disallowed for offside.
However, by the end of the 2024–2025 season, he admitted that it had been one of the worst seasons of his career. He said they were eliminated from the Champions League, lost in the Coppa Italia, and didn’t hit their targets in the league. He even said that things “went wrong” and that he didn’t play as much as he would have liked.
Then, on the 1st of September 2025, Samuel was officially loaned to Fulham. The loan is for the whole 2025–26 season, and there’s an option to buy him permanently, meaning Fulham might pay to keep him in the English Premier League at the end of the loan. Some reports say the purchase option could be as high as €25 million, or even more, depending on conditions. Fulham confirmed he will wear the number 19 shirt.
Now let’s talk about how much money he makes. When he was at AC Milan, Samuel Chukwueze’s salary was about €98,654 per week, which sums to around €5.13 million per year. As for his move to Fulham, his weekly pay is around £120,000, making him the second-highest paid player at Fulham. A big raise, right? Capology, a site that tracks player salaries, reports that his gross base salary for that season is £6.24 million. (Note: these figures are estimates based on reports.)
As for how much wealth he’s got, his net worth is estimated to be roughly €6 million, which is around ₦4.2 billion in Nigerian Naira, according to Pulse Sports. Samuel Chukwueze makes part of his money from his club contracts, and part from endorsement deals, for example, with Nike. He’s also represented by a major agency, Roc Nation Sports, which helps him secure commercial opportunities. According to some news sources, his endorsements might bring in about €800,000 a year.
On the field, Samuel’s style is a very exciting one. He is left-footed but usually plays on the right wing. That makes him dangerous, because he can cut inside and dribble at full speed. People often praise his explosive pace and his ability to beat defenders one-on-one. But because he leans heavily on his left foot, he’s not quite as balanced with his right foot, and defensively, he’s not always perfect.
He is 1.72 m tall (about 5 feet 8 inches) and weighs around 70 kg. In video games, like EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), his potential is rated quite highly. In one version, he has an overall rating of 80 and a potential of 83.
Looking at his career stats for Villarreal B, he played 20 games and scored 4 goals; for the Villarreal first team, 155 matches with 21 goals; and for AC Milan, by late 2025, he had made 51 appearances and scored 4 goals (per Wikipedia). On loan at Fulham, he has started making appearances (5 so far, as of late 2025), though he hadn’t scored yet in those first matches.
Samuel also cares about his family. When his career became more successful, he built a multi‑million naira mansion for his father in their hometown in Nigeria.
Even though he’s not married, he has been linked romantically with a Nigerian model/influencer, Klara “Ifedioku” Kalu. But there’s no confirmed marriage between them or children yet. So, he is single for now.
Finally, his move to Fulham is seen by some as a chance to “restart” and recapture the kind of form he showed in Spain. He turned down very high-paying offers (reportedly from Saudi clubs) to stay in Europe.