The decision of Sevilla to terminate the contract of Kelechi Iheanacho during the summer transfer window was influenced by the board of the Spanish league, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Iheanacho has hit the ground running at his new club Celtic with two goals and one assist in his first three games for the club. He signed a one year deal with the option of another year.

Coach of Celtic Brendan Rodgers says he is on track for an extended stay at the club judging by how he has acquitted himself since joining the team. His success has now brought about why he was let loose by Sevilla.

LaLiga did not accept the salary reduction proposed by Sevilla FC for the last year of his contract and, just hours before the summer transfer window closed, Iheanacho agreed to the termination of his deal in exchange for approximately half of what he would have received at the club.

Sevilla felt unhappy over his exit, because he returned for pre season training in top shape and even impressed in test games.

Daniel Martins

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has on loan Inter Milan midfielder Ebenezer Akinsamiro on his list of possible targets ahead of the resumption of games in the world cup qualifiers in October, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria will head into the final two rounds of games in the the world cup qualifiers with doubts over the availability of the midfield duo of Raphael Onyedika of Club Brugge and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru of Italian Serie A side Lazio.

In their absence Chelle who can still count on the likes of Alhassan Yusuf, Frank Onyeka, Uche Chrisantus and fit again Wilfred Ndidi is looking at Akinsamiro who has impressed in the Serie A with Pisa.

Chelle was impressed with his man of the match performance against Napoli despite his team losing the game by 2-3. It was his third straight game in the Italian top division.

He sees the 20 year old in the same mould as young defender Benjamin Fredrick who got his debut in the last round of games and impressed mightily in the games against Rwanda and South Africa respectively.

Like Akinsamiro, Fredrick is on loan to Belgium side FC Dender from English Premier League side Brentford where he won the club’s player’s player of the year award at U21 level last season.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

World football governing body FIFA has profiled the top stars to watch in all the teams that will be taking part in the 24th edition of the U20 World Cup, which will take place in Chile.

Two times runners up Nigeria will play in group F alongside Norway, Saudi Arabia and Colombia. The team arrived the city of Talca after a 12 days training camp in Santiago, where they played two test games.

They played a 1-1 draw with host nation Chile, before defeating Australia 3-1 in their final tune up games in preparation for the tournament. They begin their campaign on the 29th September with a game against Norway.

In their preview of the Nigerian team, FIFA picked AS Trencin forward Sani Suleiman as the star of the Nigerian team with emphasis on how he has so far fared in Slovakia for his modest side.

The GBS of Jos Academy graduate was part of the new additions by head coach Aliyu Zubairu after his team fired blank at the U20 AFCON. He is expected to shoulder not just the burden of scoring goals but also creating chances.

Tracked by a host of teams in Europe, notably German giants Bayer Leverkusen, the 18 year old come into the tournament in fine form with two goals and one assist in the first five games of the season.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of Real Sociedad Sergio Francisco has defended his decision to hand Sadiq Umar his first game of the season as his team grind out a 1-0 win over Mallorca in yesterday’s LaLiga game, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Sadiq hasn’t been involved with the first team of the club for a while as he pushed for a return to Valencia, where he spent the second half of last season on loan to good effect.

However both teams couldn’t reach an agreement on his signing with with Real Sociedad insisting that any loan should come with an obligation to buy, while Valencia wanted a loan with an option to buy.

The disagreement brought about the collapse of the deal and leading to the lanky Nigerian staying at the club beyond the summer transfer window, notably after rejecting offers from other teams interested in his services.

Yesterday he played the final minute of their 1-0 win and Francisco said his not too impressive showing has to do more with the way they played, and said they have to find a way to make him play at his best.

” Sadiq is a space player. We need to get him back . He came back to Anoeta today, and I’ve already said that all the players I have available will be able to participate”, the coach said.

Head coach of Scottish side Celtic Brendan Rodgers has praised the impact of Nigeria international forward Kelechi Iheanacho since joining the club on a free transfer from LaLiga side Sevilla, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Iheanacho added to his goal tally for the club by scoring their lone goal in the 1-1 draw against FK Crvena Zvezda in the Europa League, fresh from last week’s assist against Patrick Thistle in a 4-0 win.

He started his stint at the club with a goal from the spot which helped them to a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock in the league. So far he has made a goal contribution in every game he has played for the team, much to the delight of Rodgers who pushed for his signing.

“I thought Kels coming in was very, very good for us”, the coach who worked with Iheanacho at Leicester City explained after the game.

“We needed someone centrally to hold the ball up. I felt that we arrived into the final third in the first half and then we were either loose with the ball or didn’t hold the ball up.

“It’s one of Kels’ great strengths. He can take the ball in, he can use his body well and obviously allows you to progress up the pitch. So he gave us a really much better platform in the second half.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will go into preparation for the world cup qualifiers with doubts around the availability of three key midfielders for head coach Eric Chelle, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Super Eagles will be up against Lesotho and Benin Republic respectively in their final two games in the world cup qualifiers, and both games are key to their hopes of at least getting a playoff spot, if they fail to qualify automatically for the world cup.

Ahead of the games, Raphael Onyedika has joined Lazio’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru on the sidelines after picking up an injury yesterday while on club duty for Club Brugge in a 5-5 draw against Westerlo.

He went off injured with what looked like a knee injury with a timescale on when he is expected to be back in action not known yet. It is the same for Dele-Bashiru who was replaced with a muscle injury for Lazio over the weekend.

Although he has returned to full training, there is doubt around the availability of Wilfred Ndidi with Besiktas said to not be in a hurry to rush him back to action owing to his history with relapses. Ndidi went off injured during the Super Eagles 2-2 draw against South Africa.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The Nigeria U17 started their campaign at the U17 WAFU B tournament with a resounding 4-1 win over Benin Republic, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria wasted no time in taking the lead as early as the 2nd minute when hattrick hero George Agha scored his first of the game from the spot, after Boluwatife Thompson was brought down in the box.

Three minute later David Edeh doubled the advantage of Nigeria with a well hit a free kick that left the goalkeeper of Benin rooted to spot. It set the done for what ended as a resounding thrashing.

Sadiq Salihu played in Agha for his second of the game and Nigeria’s third with 20 minutes left to play in the game. Agha not satisfied with a brace put Nigeria 4-0 up with his hattrick with half time looming.

Benin Republic ended the break with a consolation with Jeremy Zannou hitting a low drive from a cut back as both teams head into the half time break.

The Manu Garba led Nigerian team took their foot off the pedal by managing the final 45 minute to end the game 4-1, and in the process their first win of the tournament which is the qualifiers for the Africa U17 AFCON.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Coach of Italian Serie A side Atalanta Ivan Juric says Nigeria international striker Ademola Lookman listened to bad advice following his decision to go on strike in his bid to force a move out of the club during the summer transfer window.

Lookman handed in a transfer request and went on strike for over three weeks trying to push a move to Inter Milan, who were unwilling to meet the asking price of €50m slammed on him by Atalanta.

He released a statement voicing his unhappiness about the club’s demand, citing a promise made to him that he will be allowed to leave for €40m but Atalanta argued that it was only for teams outside Europe.

After starring for Nigeria in back to back world cup qualifiers games during the international break, he returned back to Napoli where he held clear the air talks with his manager, and was subsequently handed a return back to the team.

Speaking after the 3-0 win over Torino in the Serie A with Lookman playing the final three minutes of the game for his return to the team, Juric said the striker was surrounded by people who gave him bad advice.

“He spoke to me and the team on Monday, he was surrounded by people who had given him some bad advice. He has a great winning mentality and now we need to get him back in shape physically,” Juric said.

Head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers Vitor Pereira says Nigeria international striker Tolu Arokodare is not at his physical best yet after his maiden goal in their 2-0 win over Everton in the Carabao Cup yesterday, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Signed from Belgium side Genk in the summer transfer window, the lanky forward produced a stylish dink over the goalkeeper of Everton to open his goal account for his new side.

The Nigerian who is yet to get off the mark for his new side in the English Premier League isn’t at his best level get according to his coach, while giving his opinion after yesterday’s goal.

“When we are expecting a strong shot on the goal, because he has the confidence in himself. Of course, he is not in his shape physically speaking. Larsen today worked a lot for the team, and after Tolu went inside and he helped us. This is the spirit that I want to see.

“Tolu came in the moment that we didn’t have Jorgen to play. The plan was not to play with him 90 minutes, the plan was to give him time to adapt and to start getting minutes. He needs to work hard to get his condition, and he will help us.”

Ade Emmanuel

The head coach of Werder Bremen Horst Steffen has voiced his unhappiness with the performance of Nigeria international striker Victor Boniface in his team’s 0-3 loss to Freiburg in the German Bundesliga over the weekend, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Boniface who is on loan to the club from fellow league side Bayer Leverkusen played the final 30 minutes of the game following his introduction as a substitute with 30 minutes left to play in the game.

Head coach Steffen wasn’t pleased with the contribution of the 24 year old who was introduced with his team trailing 0-2 and was expected to help spark the club into a performance that could trigger a come back.

He failed to follow up his assist in his debut game for the club, rather he ended up losing the ball 10 times, misplaced four out of the 14 passes he attempted and had just 24 touches of the ball.

“I felt he was too ‘everywhere’,” the coach told Transfermarkt. “It’s fine for him to be more central. It wasn’t the way I wanted it”, the coach lamented.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman