the yak is back and so is the question that used to annoy him but now just brings a smile age, for the striker who scored more premier league goals than cristiano ronaldo and fernando torres, has always been more than a number that is possibly because david moyes once joked yakubu aiyegbeni was a ‘nigerian 25’ and because steve mcclaren claimed the striker told him he was 25 when he signed for middlesbrough 10 years ago reading striker yakubu insists he has never been concerned with the questions marks over his age  so, how old is he? the profiles say 32; the sceptics are ruder the big man among reading’s big dreamers says he’s heard it all before ‘it was always like this,’ he says ‘but it does not bother me kanu has had it as well 'i just laugh about it — people joke and that is it if i was lying i don’t think i would be playing now i would be retired’ thankfully for reading and the fa cup, the jibes have not got the better of him yakubu scored the goal that saw off derby in the fifth round to set up the tie against bradford, guaranteeing at least one side from outside the premier league will be at wembley in the semi finals for the neutrals, the hope is that league one bradford can trip up another bigger club for yakubu, there is the hope that he can make it to wembley for the first time after a mangled achilles tendon kept him out of everton’s 2009 final defeat against chelsea the nigerian striker scores reading's second goal during the fa cup fifth round defeat against derby  saturday (kick off 1245pm) tv: bt sport 1 (from 12pm) if he does, it will complete a quite surreal journey that spans almost three years since he left blackburn — ending 10 seasons in england — following relegation to the championship his absence has seen him scream at confused chinese footballers and gain a sweaty taste of football in qatar ‘no regrets,’ as yakubu says and yet there were times in china, at guangzhou r&f in the days before sven goran eriksson rocked up, where he quite literally had no idea what was going on ‘when i was there (after leaving blackburn), we had a brazilian coach (sergio farias) and he spoke in portuguese,’ yakubu says ‘a guy that speaks english, he had to translate into english and then another guy had to translate from portuguese to chinese the manager is supposed to speak for like five minutes but we are there for nine minutes yakubu, seen here celebrating a goal against manchester city in 2004, scored 43 goals for portsmouth  yakubu made sure reading reached the fa cup quarter finals with this goal against the rams  yakubu felt he was away from english football for too long and jumped at the chance to return  ‘it’s so difficult to speak with your team mates you don’t know how to tell him to pass you just scream at him and when you scream, he knows that he has to give you the ball ‘when you want to go shopping or to a restaurant, you have to have it written in your phone in chinese and you have to show it everywhere you go, you have to take your phone and show it to the taxi driver ‘but when sven came in, it was great to work with him again i worked with him at leicester city he is always really calm he just wants you to enjoy the game yakubu has scored more premier league goals than cristiano ronaldo (above) and fernando torres  the frontman also scored 35 goals in 103 games for middlesbrough between 2005 and 2007  ‘sometimes when i played two or three games and didn’t score, he never said to me, “you didn’t score” he’d just walk towards me and say, smiling: “it’s been a while since you scored” always calm’ after 18 months in china, yakubu wound up at al rayyan in qatar last year he is confident that despite having to train in the middle of the night, they can host a good world cup ‘i had a good offer in qatar,’ he says ‘it was another experience so no regrets believe me, they can get a good world cup there they have nice stadiums but when it is hot, it is hot we had to train at 930pm in summer you finish training at about 12 and then go home at 1230am and then bed at about 4am you have to stay home all day because it is really, really hot you can’t train when it’s 50 degrees, it is too much’ the 32 year old had offers from american, china and qatar ahead of his move to reading  he adds: ‘in winter it is good, we can train at 4pm we played matches at 730pm or 8pm and they have to stop for water breaks once or twice’ on deadline day last month he came back to the country where he first arrived in 2003, when harry redknapp took a punt on a striker playing in israel ‘even when you play the big teams, harry makes you believe,’ he says ‘he’ll say, “the defence is not good come on, just kill him” if you’re scared, like you’re going to play against sol campbell, he’d say, “sol campbell? he’s s*** don’t worry”’ the memories of his first english stint make him happy now his hope is to finally reach wembley on his second chapter ‘every player wants that,’ he says you’re never too old to dream the veteran striker believes former boss harry redknapp (left) 'makes you believe'
32 year old september derby yakubu day royals nigerian fa cup quarter finals bradford
yakubu has faced doubts about his age for the majority of his career  32 year old sealed deadline day move to reading in september  he scored winner against derby to help royals into fa cup quarter finals  nigerian is hoping to help reading to victory against bradford 