As many as five players who have never been called up to the senior Nigeria national team will be in the squad for the friendly game against Senegal and possibly Ghana.

Owngoalnigeria.com can authoritatively confirm that coach Gernot Rohr has started the process of drawing up the list of call ups, with at least five new players under consideration for the March 23 friendly.

Although our source refused to reveal the names of the players already penciled down, the five players could be a combination of both local and foreign base players.

” Presently as many as five new players are under consideration comprising of players from the local league and those abroad for the friendly tie against Senegal”, a source close to the coach told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” The friendly are meant to test new players and Rohr is not keen on the results but that doesn’t mean he will fill a weak team. We have our reputation to protect as a team”.

Gabriel Jesus unfortunate injury in Manchester City 2-0 win over Bournemouth has lead to a twitter take over by Nigerians.

A cross section of comments from Nigerians monitored by Owngoalnigeria.com reveal their joy at his injury as it potentially opens the door for out of favour Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho.
Rated as one of most important player for the senior Nigeria national team, his lack of game time at the Etihad has given Nigerians lot of reasons to be worried.

Iheanacho failed to make the matchday squad of Manchester City in their last five games in all competitions, a situation which many linked to the speed at which Gabriel Jesus has settled down to life in England.

Jesus’s injury got some Nigerians suggesting that the 19 year old, who is from the Eastern part of Nigeria might be behind the injury, although they said so jokingly.

See Tweets:

Former Enugu Rangers right full back Henry Obiekwu is dead according to a message from his elder brother Kingsley Obiekwu to Owngoalnigeria.com editor.

The older Obiekwu who is known as Shagari during his playing days said his brother Henry died during a friendly match at the UNEC stadium in Enugu.

He was playing for his youth team Samba FC when he complained of severe chest pain before dropping to the ground unchallenged moments later.

Henry was rushed to several hospitals in Enugu before he was confirmed dead at the Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre yesterday afternoon.

The last team he represented in the Nigeria local scene was FC Taraba but he gained national recognition during his time with current Nigeria League Champions Enugu Rangers.

According to reports in the Spanish press European giants Sevilla have joined the race to sign highly-rated Nigerian striker Henry Onyekuru.

Spanish news outlet Estadio Deportivo claim that the 19-year-old is being lined up by the Sevilla’s sporting director and head of recruitment Monchi as one of a number of targets to improve the first-team squad in the summer.

Onyekuru has 13 goals to his name this season for modest side Eupen despite playing as a left winger, his latest coming in their 1-0 success over Gent last weekend.

Scottish league champions are reportedly leading the race for his signature in the summer, after failing with a bid to land the 19 year old during the recently concluded January transfer window.

Celtic reportedly fell short of Eupen’s £4m valuation of the Nigerian, as they refused to up their initial £1m bid, reports indicate that Sevilla are willing to meet the asking price for Onyekuru.

On loan Watford midfielder Uche Agbo was part of the Granada team who were hammered 4-0 by Eibar last night in a La-Liga game.

Agbo was on from start to finish in the tie that further compounded the relegation worries of Granada, who are 19th on the 20 team La-Liga table after picking up just 13 points in 22 games.

More worrisome for the Nigerian is his propensity to pick up bookings in games, as he went into the referee’s book once again in the 69th minute, when he was shown a yellow card for foul play.

The caution was his 8th yellow card of the season in 17 games, aside the red card he was issued against Osasuna on the 15th of January 2017.

Since returning from a three match ban he has picked up two consecutive yellow cards in the two games he has played against Las Palmas and Eibar.

So far he has three yellow cards and a red card in his last four games, a record that put him among the bad boys in the La-Liga.

Goal shy Coventry City who are rooted to the bottom of the English League one have announced the signing of Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni on a deal until the end of the season.

The 34-year-old joins the League One side after a brief stint in Turkey with Kayserispor.

Yakubu has scored 130 goals during his time in England, playing in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Everton, as well as enjoying stints with Leicester City and Reading.

We’re pleased to have secured the signing of Yakubu, who brings vast experience and a terrific goal record,” Coventry manager Russell Slade told the club’s official website.

“His professional career speaks for itself, having scored consistently at the highest level of English football, and will act as a superb role model for the younger players.

“He is astute on the ball, has clear quality and presence, and we’ll continue to work on his match fitness as we prepare for the final 16 games of this season.”

The non listing of Kelechi Iheanacho by manager of Manchester City Pep Guardiola in his matchday squad for City’s last four games has generated a whole lot of talks both in the Nigeria media and the world at large.

However despite reports of a row over agent between the duo, with some suggesting that Guardiola wants his brother Pere Guardiola to represent the 20 year old forward, Owngoalnigeria.com can authoritatively reveal that isn’t the case.

Iheanacho, according to what we gathered first angered Guardiola when the Spaniard discovered during negotiations for a new deal, that he has two agents claiming to be his representative.

Guardiola managed the situation and Iheanacho signed a new deal at the Etihad, but their relationship was strained again when the gaffer discovered that the agent issue is still lingering.

The issue affected Iheanacho’s focus on the pitch, which lead to a confidence crisis as the Nigerian clearly wasn’t at his best even in training, where he usually come top in goal scoring drills.

Already he has lost out on a multi-million pounds deal with a foot wear company due to the issue surrounding who is his bonafide representative, and a court case has also been lined up to settle the issue.

He is presently been left out of the team due to off pitch distractions and not because Guardiola wants his brother to represent him as speculated by some media outlet in Nigeria.

Captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Mikel Obi was once again on the losing side as his Chinese team Tianjin Teda suffered their eight consecutive pre season loss.

Mikel who captains the team was on from start to finish in their latest defeat, a 1-2 loss to South Korean non league side Gyeongju Citizens earlier today.

Aside the loss to Gyeongju Citizens they have also suffered of losses in games against Borussia Monchengladbach II, St. Pauli, Dinamo Bucuresti, Dynamo Kiev, Ulsan Hyundai, Busan and Gyeongnam FC.

So far the 29 year old has played in all of their friendly game as the build up to the start of the Chinese league gathers momentum, with their first game scheduled for the 4th of March against Shandong Luneng.

The former Chelsea man who now plays in a more offensive role for the team as opposed to his time at Stamford Bridge has a three year deal with the modest Chinese side.

Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says Cameroon have a lot to worry about than Nigeria when both teams clash when the World Cup 2018 qualifiers resumes in September.

Nigeria will defend their four point lead over second placed Cameroon when both teams clash in back to back games later in the year, but Rohr believes the African Champions have a lot to worry about than his team.

“When we win the next game in Cameroon it will be very okay for us to be in Russia. I am always confident and I think we have a good team . The quality of our team is a good team and if we were at the cup of nations , we have stood a chance of winning it.

“We have a young team, our team is motivated . Cameroon are now a very good team now with different players of course, they are not so young when you look at the average age of their players it’s 26, the youngest ones Bassogog and the goalkepper so the other ones are not so young.

“We are a younger team we have an experience captain who now plays in China, we will have I hope so two new players who will help us when we get to play them, we’ll see very interesting games against Cameroon because they know they must beat us or at least a draw to stand a chance of going to Russia.”

Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit has slammed Victor Moses for turning his back in the wall for the free kick goal scored by Burnley in their 1-1 draw over the weekend.

Former Chelsea Player-turned-pundit Gullit focused on Moses’ role in the goal as he turned his back in the Chelsea wall.

“This free-kick is perfect,” Gullit told BBC’s Match of the Day 2.
“In the wall, Moses. Look the ugliest players go into the wall, so the only thing is you put your face there.

“What is Moses doing here? He turns his face away. The free-kick is perfect anyway, but I hate when players turn their backs away.”