In two weeks time the five major European Leagues namely the French Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga and the English Premier League will all resume .
Owngoalnigeria.com takes a look at some Nigerian players who are set to feature in the above mentioned leagues but are somehow unknown back here.
In England , former Tottenham Hotspur youth prospect Josh Onomah will be one of the players on parade when they kickstart their campaign with a game against Arsenal on Saturday.
Onomah isnt much a household name in Nigeria like other England youth internationals that are been linked with a switch of allegiance to Nigeria. However all of that could change with a strong showing.
Already he is a target of coach of the team Gernot Rohr who was obviously impressed with his showing in the English Championship playoffs where he impressed for Fulham.
In Spain, the name Kelechi Nwakali is one many are eager to see when Huesca begin their La Liga campaign against Villarreal. Another Nigerian is at the club as well and he is Kelvin Carlos Omoruyi.
At 19 years old, the forward who has been promoted to the first team from the B team could struggle to get games even though he has been ever present in their pre season games.
Still in the La Liga Saturday Erimuya who was a part of the Samson Siasia squad for the 2016 Olympics has progressed to the first team and even played in their last pre season game.
He is expected to see some minutes following their promotion to the La Liga from the Spanish second division. Although he didn’t get to play a single minute for the first team last season with all of his 26 appearances coming for the B team.
In France Lesley Ugochukwu is a 16 year old who will spark a tug of war between Nigeria and France as he is eligible for both countries.
He was only recently elevated to the first team of Rennes and coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr is a strong admirer of the midfielder who could get his breakthrough in the Ligue 1 this season.
With Paderborn relegated to the German second division, Nigeria lost a player in the top division in Jamilu Collins but the trio of Anthony Ujah, Suleiman Abdullahi and Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee are still at Union Berlin and Augsburg respectively.
Kingsley Ehizibue swells the number to five as he has at Cologne and recently was called up to the senior national team of Nigeria after agreeing to switch from the Netherlands to Nigeria .
However one make that many are unaware of is Felix Agu, the right full back of Werder Bremen who is according to some reports among the players who have switched allegiance to Nigeria. He is expected to be a regular for the team that narrowly escaped relegation last season.
In the Italian Serie A where all talks has been about Victor Osimhen following his record breaking move to Napoli, many have forgotten of his U17 teammate Kingsley Michael who is at Bologna and has played a part in their first set of pre season games.
Michael will be hoping to get games in the Serie A to start his self desire to be a part of the Nigerian team for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Osas Mahawi
