he form of Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun during the Eagles’s training session and test game against Senegal has won him praises from a British journalist.

Balogun was on for the entire duration of Nigeria’s 1-1 draw against Senegal in a friendly clash in London, and the Mainz 05 man put in a commendable shift despite his lack of game time at his Bundesliga team.

” He looks quite good on the ball, although rusty I must say. He obviously made up for it with his impeccable reading of the game. The way he moves, reads and intercept passes with ease is such a delight”, British journalist Mark Thompson told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” The way he wins aerial duels is something else and even his tackle success rate is also very impressive due to the fact that he is not the quickest. Age is not on his side but this man has all what it takes to play in the Premier League.

” Above all I love the way he organises his troops at the back. I watched the game against Senegal, he was on top of his voice ordering his troops round. He is a leader, even in training I noticed the same”.

*Prince Michael

The top scorer in the Nigeria Premier League Stephen Odey might be heading to Europe soon according to reports exclusively gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com.

Odey who took his season’s tally to 13 goals with a goal in MFM 2-1 win over Abia Warriors on Wednesday has been courted by a host of team in Europe.

However Owngoalnigeria.com transfer expert Daniel Martins gathered from one of his contacts that the 19 year old has been offered to Belgian side Genk.

” From what I heard, Odey is almost certain to be offered to Belgian side Genk by Olivier Noah, same guy who played a role in the transfer of Wilfred Ndidi to Genk few years ago”, Martins who has broken news of many deals involving Nigerian players told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” His local agent, a certain guy called Yusuf I think shares close ties with Olivier, and has given him the go ahead to propose him to Genk by issuing him a mandate.

” I don’t know if Genk will sanction a move for him but I know he has been proposed to them by Olivier Noah, who has close ties with some people at the club”.

*Daniel Martins

FC Porto Nigerian teen star Musa Yahaya starred for the entire duration of their 1-0 win over Swansea City which sealed their passage to the final of the Premier League International Cup four days ago.

Yahaya who was voted Man of The Match in their 2-0 win over Manchester United in the quarter-finals put up another impressive showing against Swansea City, further cementing his status as one of the promising youngsters in the U23 rank of the Portuguese side.

Owngoalnigeria.com spoke with the 19 year old shortly after the game against Swansea City, and the Kaduna born star says he wants to help the team win the final game to make up for the disappointment of losing in the finals last year.

” Right from the start, i have no doubt in my mind that we will make it to the final, even though Swansea City proved to be harder than we thought due to their organisation, especially in defence”, Yahaya told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” I’m not going to speak much about my performance, it’s better when others rate you. I only want to help the team win the final game, it was painful when they lost in the final to Manchester City last year”.

*Daniel Martins

Technical manager of Rivers United Stanley Eguma has been suspended by the club according to a press release made available to Owngoalnigeria.com.

Eguma was suspended for reporting 18 minutes after kickoff to the venue of their Wednesday Nigeria Professional League game against Plateau United which ended 0-0.

The coach was made aware of the club decision shortly after the game which further compounded their aspirations of getting their season back on track following a run of poor form.

His suspension is for just a game, which means he will not be part of the team for their weekend game against Gombe United in Gombe, according to the release from the management of the team.

Currently the longest serving coach at a club in the Nigeria Professional Football League, his team were dumped out of the CAF Champions League on a 4-3 aggregate loss after losing 4-0 in Sudan to Al-Merriekh.

* Ade Emmanuel

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) highly rated Anglo-Nigerian teen Ebere Eze has spoken out on the joy of training with the Super Eagles of Nigeria in London.

Eze was among the group of players called up by coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr following the cancellation of the proposed friendly tie against Burkina Faso.

He played in the practice game organised by the coach after the cancellation of the Burkina Faso friendly, and after the game spoke with our correspondent on the touchline.

” I feel so happy, words can’t clearly express my feelings. My parents are from Imo State, Mbaise precisely and they are very happy for me”, Eze told Michael James in London.

” I hope to play more for the team in subsequent games, but I also know I have to play for my team to be considered worthy enough for a spot in the team. For me the hardwork starts now”.

*Michael James

Following the successful capture of Chuba Akpom, Ola Aina, Ebere Eze and Josh Maja, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has set it’s sight on snaring more players from the English youth set up eligible for Nigeria at senior level.

Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal that five Anglo Nigerian players have been approached by the NFF, with discussions set to be at an advanced stage.

Millwall’s highly rated midfielder Fred Onyedinma has given his words to officials of the NFF about his commitment to the Super Eagles and only missed training with the team due to Club engagement as he played in his team 0-1 loss to Swindon on Saturday.

On loan Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham was not involved in the training session as the Bristol City man was with the English U-20 side, and he is also one of those who have given his words to the NFF about making a decision on his senior international future in the summer, but his father’s close ties with Amaju Pinnick the president of the NFF could work in Nigeria’s favour.

Everton’s Ademola Lookman is yet to decide on his international future, but a staff of the NFF revealed to Owngoalnigeria.com that Lookman will most likely switch to Nigeria after the European U-21 tournament later in the year.

Also on the NFF list is Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Dominic Iorfa Jnr who met with coach Gernot Rohr during his visit to see Carl Ikeme, and gave his words to the German coach of the Nigerian team that he will team up with Nigeria in the summer.

20 year old Charlton Athletic midfielder Joe Aribo who moved to the League one side from Staines Town in 2015 has also had contact with the NFF, and Owngoalnigeria.com can report that he has made himself available if called up by the handlers of the Nigerian team.

*Michael James

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) highly rated Anglo-Nigerian teen Ebere Eze has spoken out on the joy of training with the Super Eagles of Nigeria in London.

Eze was among the group of players called up by coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr following the cancellation of the proposed friendly tie against Burkina Faso.

He played in the practice game organised by the coach after the cancellation of the Burkina Faso friendly, and after the game spoke with our correspondent on the touchline.

” I feel so happy, words can’t clearly express my feelings. My parents are from Imo State, Mbaise precisely and they are very happy for me”, Eze told Michael James in London.

” I hope to play more for the team in subsequent games, but I also know I have to play for my team to be considered worthy enough for a spot in the team. For me the hardwork starts now”.

The decision not to hand Dutch-Nigerian full back Tyroone Ebuehi his debut against the national team of Senegal in the friendly game in London has been explained by the coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr.

Ebuehi is high on the radar of Rohr, who is eager to sort the right back issues of the team, but after securing the services of the ADO Den Haag full back who initially turned down Nigeria’s invitation, he was left on the bench for the entire duration of the game.

Owngoalnigeria.com correspondent Michael James who was in London for the game had a chat with the manager who explained, why the 20 year old didn’t make his debut as expected.

” You see we have players who already understand how we defend in the team, and we are trying to build for our upcoming games. The defence line we used against Algeria in our last game didn’t do too badly, so we decided to maintain them for the game.

” Ebuehi would have gotten his chance against Burkina Faso but the game was called off, no doubt he is a fine player and very much part of our plans. We know what he can do and you saw a bit of him as well during the practice game”, Rohr told Owngoalnigeria.com.

*Michael James reporting from London

The form of Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun during the Eagles’s training session and test game against Senegal has won him praises from a British journalist.

Balogun was on for the entire duration of Nigeria’s 1-1 draw against Senegal in a friendly clash in London, and the Mainz 05 man put in a commendable shift despite his lack of game time at his Bundesliga team.

” He looks quite good on the ball, although rusty I must say. He obviously made up for it with his impeccable reading of the game. The way he moves, reads and intercept passes with ease is such a delight”, British journalist Mark Thompson told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” The way he wins aerial duels is something else and even his tackle success rate is also very impressive due to the fact that he is not the quickest. Age is not on his side but this man has all what it takes to play in the Premier League.

” Above all I love the way he organises his troops at the back. I watched the game against Senegal, he was on top of his voice ordering his troops round. He is a leader, even in training I noticed the same”.

*Prince Michael

Out of favour Super Eagles defender Juwon Oshaniwa was among the players coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr handed a late call up to join his team in training.

The Super Eagles were scheduled to play Burkina Faso in a test game in London but the game was called off due to logistics bothering on the Burkinabes securing visas for the game.

A test game involving the players was organised by Rohr, with the players divided into Team A and Team B, and Oshaniwa played for Team B captained by Kenneth Omeruo.

Oshaniwa who was part of Nigeria’s squad to the last World Cup was on for the entire duration of the game and gave a good impression of himself, despite his lack of game time at Scottish side Hearts.

The 27 year old former Sharks of Porthacourt defender is eyeing the left back spot of the team, which Elderson Echiejile presently enjoys the favour of coach Rohr.

* Daniel Martins