‎Former Nigeria youth international Dele Alampasu has reclaimed the number one spot at Portuguese third division side Cesarense, where he is on a season long loan from top division side CD Feirense.

Alampasu arrived late from a national team assignment with Nigeria, the World Cup Qualifiers tie which Nigeria won 3-1, and his late arrival cost him his first choice spot at the club.

Fitness issues also kept him away from the team starting line up for sometime but he has now kept goal in their last three league games including their game on Monday against Mortagua.

It brings his appearances this season to 11, although he has only kept goal three times this year. His only clean sheet came in his first game of 2017, which was the 1-0 win over Anadia in March.

He is expected to be included in the Nigerian team, who will gather in France for a camping exercise in preparation for their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers ‎against South Africa in June.

Osas Mahawi

Former captain and goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria Vincent Enyeama might make a return to the team when they take on South Africa in June when they take on South Africa in their firsts AFCON 2019 qualifiers game.

Nigeria are currently battling a mini goalkeeper crisis with first choice shot stopper Carl Ikeme battling to be fit for the all important tie, which will go a long way in Nigeria’s quest to end a two year absence from the AFCON.

Rohr has repeatedly voiced out his desire to see Lille shot stopper Enyeama who quit the team after a row with former coach Stephen Keshi back in the team, and it appears he has gotten his man this time around m

The Franco-German coach of the Super Eagles is in France at the moment and talks has been lined up with Enyeama over a possibly return, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

His return might be as early as the next AFCON qualifiers especially if Ikeme fails to recover from the injury that has cost him two weekends of action w‎ith Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
*Michael James

Head coach of Chelsea Antonio Conte has revealed the difficulties they are facing in trying to get a replacement for three of the club long serving players including captain of the Super Eagles John Obi Mikel.

Conte named Mikel, Branislav Ivanovic and captain John Terry who will be leaving the club in the summer, as three players who will be hard to replace.

He made this known during his pre match conference ahead of their FA Cup semi-final game against Tottenham Hotspur‎, and said the difficulty in replacing them is part of the reason why they are still building the team.

The trio were the longest serving players in the club, when Conte was appointed as coach in the summer, and while Mikel and Ivanovic have since moved to China and Russia respectively, Terry will leave the club in the summer after 22 years.

Now at Chinese side Tianjin Teda, the Super Eagles captain has settled down to life quickly than most of his peers who also made moves to the Middle East during the January transfer window.

Osas Mahawi

On loan Hoffenheim defender Kevin Akpoguma is set to miss the rest of the season in Germany after picking up a serious injury while turning out for his loan side Fortuna Dusseldorf who were thrashed 1-3 at home by St. Pauli.

Akpoguma was stretchered off five minutes into the game after a collision with St. Pauli Bernd Nehrig, and after the game he was reported to have suffered a fracture in his cervical vertebra which will sideline him for at least one month.

Known for his tough tackling, he is expected to return to Hoffenheim when his loan deal expires in the summer. A move which now depend on how quick he recovers from this latest setback.

His international future might also be decided in the future as he has been approached by Nigeria to switch allegiance from Germany, where he is a full fledged youth international.

Akpoguma will reportedly decide his international future in the summer, despite all efforts by the German coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr to have him earlier.

Michael James

Highly rated 15 year old American-Nigerian sensation Lateef Omidiji Jr has joined Dutch giants Feyenoord, according to his post on his official social media handle.

Omidiji Jr who according to some reports has agreed to join Arsenal later this summer, announced he will be defending the colours of Feyenoord ‎U -15s next season bringing to an end speculations about his future.
“Just wanted to announce that I just officially signed for Feyenoord football club today.” Lateef said

“ I will be playing with the Feyenoord U-15’s next season.”

“I want to thank everybody at the club for the faith they have shown me and I look forward to growing at the club and developing to my full potential.”

“I would also like to thank the other clubs that made approaches and offers to sign me- some of the top clubs in the Netherlands and also some of the top clubs across Europe.”

“Showing faith in a boy that started at Rainbow youth soccer league in Las Vegas, playing on Desert Inn and Durango to have some of the top clubs in Europe asking about my availability has been humbling. “ Omidiji Jr wrote.

However his international future is far from over with Nigeria, USA and the Netherlands all in for him, although he has represented only America at U-15 level. He has severally voiced his wish to play for Nigeria in the future.

Daniel Martins

KAS Eupen Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru made the final list of five for the prestigious Ebony Shoe Award in Belgium, which is given to the best player of African descent in the League.

Onyekuru has scored 18 goals this season, with 14 coming in the league for Eupen, in what is his first season in the top flight in Belgium, since graduating from the prestigious Aspire Academy in Qatar.

His fine form has lead to interest from several teams around Europe with Southampton, the latest team to join in his chase, as exclusively reported by this football portal during the course of the week.

He faces competition from Zulte Waregem Senegalese star Mbaye Leye, Sofiane Hanni from Algeria who plays for Anderlecht, Landry Dimata of KV Oostende who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Belgium international who has Congolese roots Youri Tielemans and plays for Anderlecht .

The 19 year old is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Nigerian stars like former Chelsea ace Celestine Babayaro who won the award during his time at Anderlecht, as well as Daniel Amokachi ‎who won it twice during his time at Club Brugge. Victor Ikpeba and Godwin Okpara are the other Nigerians who have won the award in the past.

‎Sofiane Hanni who is in the run for this year award, won the award last year during his time with KV Mechelen.

Prince Michael

English Premier League giants Manchester United have offered their condolences to the families and friends of the club fans who were electrocuted in a viewing centre in the city of Calabar.

A statement from the Nigerian police has it that a high tension electric cable fell on a viewing centre during Manchester United game against Anderlecht in the Europa League, leaving seven people dead, and ten others in hospital.

However the News Agency of Nigeria reports that over 30 football loving fans in the viewing centre died in the incident, way different from the official number released by the Nigerian Police.

” Our thoughts go out to the United fans, their friends and families affected by the tragedy in Calabar, Nigeria, yesterday “. The club posted on their official twitter handle @ManUtd.

Manchester United have a huge fan base in Nigeria, and at a time had to tour the West African country in appreciation of their support.

Ade Emmanuel

‎Former coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Sunday Oliseh says Dutch rules governing the signing of foreign players stopped him from signing Nigerian players for Fortuna Sittard.

Oliseh successfully ‎rescued Fortuna Sittard from relegation to the third tier of Dutch league, after taking over as coach of the team in January.

However his reluctance to sign players from Nigeria, the country he captained and later coached was down to issues bothering on the Dutch FA rules.

“We have to see how much resources we have to bring in more players and we have certain limitations because I will love to bring in some Nigerian players, but the Dutch league prohibits us from that. But we will keep 13 of the 24 players we have to get in seven new players and a goalkeeper ahead of next season,” he told CompleteSports in an interview.

Explaining further he said ” The rules states that if we must bring in a Nigerian player to the league, we must pay him €400,000 a year. It’s a rule they are stuck with to protect the Dutch league system. So we hope we can find a way around it, if I can get a Nigerian striker and a midfielder in my team with the way they express themselves and the offensive play.”

Daniel Martins

Captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has confirmed his split from long term intermediary John Olatunji Shittu.

Mikel’s relationship with Shittu has roundly been praised as one of the most cordial between a Nigerian player and his agent, especially during his protracted transfer to Chelsea from Lyn Oslo in 2006.

Shittu became famous for the role he played in convincing Mikel to snub a potential move to Manchester United, and instead head for Chelsea despite claims by the Old Trafford outfit that Mikel has signed for them.

After ten and half years at Chelsea, Mikel left for China, where he presently stars for Tianjin Teda as part of the numerous stars lured to the Chinese Super League during the January transfer window.

” My contract with Shittu ended few years ago. He is no longer my agent because there was no extension after the expiration of our former agreement “, the Super Eagles captain told Owngoalnigeria.com in an exclusive chat.

” I will also want you to know that he didn’t broker my deal to Tianjin Teda. My move to China was handled by a different agent entirely not Shittu”.

Osas Mahawi

Italian Serie A side Inter-Milan are back in for Victor Osimhen, one year after the 18 year old turned down a move to the San Siro outfit in favour of a move to Wolfsburg.

Although Osimhen is yet to make an appearance for the German side since turning professional, the club are however reluctant to sanction a move for him to leave the club this summer.

Inter-Milan are however hopeful that the departure of the coach who brought him to Wolfsburg and the influential sporting director who played a very big role in his transfer will help their bid to sign him.

A loan deal with the option of making it permanent is what they are proposing, according to Owngoalnigeria.com transfer expert Daniel Martins.

“The departure of Klaus Allofs , the very influential Sporting Director and the sack of Valerin Ismael the coach who rates him highly has given Inter-Milan hopes. But Wolfsburg will no doubt make it difficult for them”, Martins said.

Osas Mahawi