Kanu has not surprisingly been told by his manager Bryan Robson that he is looking for more goals from the West Bromwich Albion striker next season.
The mercurial Nigerian international was a big disappointment at The Hawthorns all season, scoring just twice in his 21 Premiership starts.
Robson is acutely aware that is a long way short of the scoring rate Kanu set for himself at Ajax and Arsenal. And it was noticeable how seldom he appeared in the Albion starting line-up following Robson's arrival at November as the replacement for the sacked Gary Megson.
It hardly endeared Kanu to anyone at the club when he revealed before season's end that he did not intend to play for the Baggies if they were relegated to the Championship. There was a clause to that effect in his contract. And there would have been few eyebrows raised had Kanu, now 29, moved on to pastures new this summer.
Robson is pleased with the attitude that Kanu has shown since Albion returned to training and the Albion manager feels that his goal in Sunday's friendly at Cardiff City was just reward for his efforts.
" He's come back and worked really well," said Robson. "He's had to get used to the different sort of challenge at Albion. It's another game when you're at the bottom and it can sometimes take players time to adjust. I've had a word and he knows what I want from him."
Kanu averaged almost a goal every other game early in his career at Ajax, scoring 25 times in 54 appearances. And he then hit 44 in his in 198 games for Arsenal, almost half of which were as substitute. But, so far Robson is yet to see him score in the Premiership. Aside from Sunday's goal, his only other was in the FA Cup defeat at Spurs in February.
"You know you're going to get those lovely bits and pieces with Kanu and he's involved with the build-up," said Robson. "But we need him back to his scoring form."
