For a man who was once told he could not play football again Kanu is not doing badly. In fact not too much has changed since he awoke from a four-and-half-hour operation to cure a faulty aortic valve and discovered that he had been voted African Footballer of the Year. This weekend is the 10th anniversary of that life-saving surgery and guess what: he's just been nominated for the African Footballer of the Year award again.

But then Kanu always did have that timeless quality. Many would hazard a guess that the Nigerian is a lot older than the 30 years he admits to, but this season he has looked as sprightly as a first-year pro in making an eight-goal contribution to Portsmouth's cause that was about as unlikely as his new club's third place position in the Premiership table.

His manager at Portsmouth, Harry Redknapp, said: "I couldn't say that I had any backing when I brought him here. Everybody sort of said: 'He's finished', but I had a feeling he could still do it. He can do things that other people can't. If you're not going to be a championship-winning team at least we can entertain and bring in some players that the fans will enjoy watching play. That's important – it is for me. It's what keeps me going."