Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr is keen on securing the services of Russian-Nigerian full back Brian Idowu ahead of the World Cup 2018 back to back qualifiers tie against Cameroun.

Rohr who is in Gabon working as a pundit for BeIN Sport at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, where Cameroun are through to the finals believes the pace and strength of Idowu will come handy against the pacy Cameroonians.

The coach is not entirely convinced by his two options at left full back Elderson Echiejile and Kingsley Madu especially as Cameroun most effective forward Christian Bassogog operated from the right.

Rohr believes the Aalborg’s rising star will find it hard to use his pace to devastating effect against Idowu than his current options at left back due to Idowu’s pace and physical attributes.

The Franco-German coach is therefore putting the NFF under immense pressure to secure a Nigeria international passport for the 24 year old Amkar Perm defender, who only has a Russian international passport.

Super Eagles and Celtic defender Efe Ambrose was among the spectators that watched Blackburn Rovers 1-2 loss to Leeds United in the English Championship, as his move to Rovers continue to hang in the balance.

Ambrose watched Rovers’ defeat to Leeds United from the stands on Wednesday evening, but a deal to bring him to Ewood Park remains in the balance.

“That’s an issue regarding the work permit,” Coyle said of the move for Ambrose.

“For me, it’s one or two things – you’re either eligible or you’re not.

“I’m led to believe there was dialogue over that (work permit).

“But he’s played in the Champions League with Glasgow Celtic, has 51 caps for Nigeria, but I don’t really know the full criteria of moving from one country to another.

“He is a bona fide international, talking about his qualities as a player, but it’s whether he meets the criteria and I think that’s where the issue has arisen.”

A lot has been said about the smooth transfer of Enyimba’s forward Ezekiel Bassey to Barcelona, but most have failed to acknowledge the role played by the partnership the La-Liga has with the League Management Company (LMC) of Nigeria.

Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the move was done without the direct involvement of any intermediary as go between, rather it was supervised by the LMC.

The LMC-Laliga partnership was also instrumental in Bassey not attending any trials and also receiving his visa from the Spanish Embassy few hours after signing the dotted lines.

A source in the LMC told Owngoalnigeria.com that more players from the Nigeria League could join top teams in Spain, as part of the long term plans in their partnership involve having at least one Nigerian player in all 20 teams in the La-Liga.

” Bassey’s move to Barcelona is just the first of many to come, thanks to our partnership with the La-Liga. The long term goal of our partnership involves transfer of talented players from the league to La-Liga teams”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” Let us say in a few years time we expect at least all La-Liga teams to have at least one Nigerian in their team. Bassey has blazed the trail and more will follow shortly”.

Nigeria U-23 shot stopper Emmanuel Daniel kept his first clean sheet for his new team Orlando Pirates in their friendly win over Black Leopards.

Orlando Pirates snatched the Nigeria Rio 2016 safe hands from rivals Mamelodi Sundowns, making it one of the dramatic January transfer window in South Africa as he was reportedly invited to the Rainbow nation by Sundowns.

Few hours after penning a deal with Pirates,the 22 year old was thrown into the deep end in their friendly game against Black Leopards, and he didn’t look out of place despite his lack of familiarity with his new teammates.

Daniel was substituted with his team leading their opponent 3-0, in the friendly game that also saw fellow Nigerian James Okwuosa starring as well.

However while Okwuosa will move directly into pushing for a shirt in the team when the league resumes, Daniel will have to wait till June before his registration can be ratified by the League body.

As exclusively reported by Owngoalnigeria.com on the 24th of December, Manchester City Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho has been moved to the B list of their updated UEFA Champions League list.

Read below the original story done by us before the list was updated today.

Despite suggestions in some quarters that Manchester City Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho could be replaced by incoming Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus, Owngoalnigeria.com can reveal that Iheanacho’s spot won’t be taken by the Brazilian.

Some other reports has insinuated that the rejuvenated Yaya Toure who is set to be included in City’s Champions League squad, after mending fences with coach Pep Guardiola could take Iheanacho spot as the Nigerian has dropped down the pecking order.

Both suggestions are way off the mark as Owngoalnigeria.com online editor can reveal that regardless of who City sign this January Iheanacho will still remain in their Champions League squad per UEFA rules.

Iheanacho will from the first of January qualify as a home grown player for Man City, as he has been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years.

His type are usually on the B list of the Champions League squad of teams, and clubs can register an unlimited number of players on the list during the season.

The agent of Nigeria U-23 shot stopper has revealed that Emmanuel Daniel will as from June this year become a player of Orlando Pirates.

Daniel was originally scheduled to join Mamelodi Sundowns but negotiations dragged on for too long, and Pirates stepped up with an offer which was accepted by the camp of the 22 year old.

” He has agreed a pre contract with Orlando Pirates, and will start playing competitive games for the team in June”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

The goalkepper for Nigeria at the last Olympic in Rio is lined up by the club as a replacement for veteran shot stopper Felipe Ovono who left the club recently.

More details later.

Celtic Efe Ambrose yet to be confirmed loan move to English Championship side Blackburn Rovers is currently been held up by issues which also includes the poor FIFA ranking of the Super Eagles, Owngoalnigeria.com understands.

Ambrose whose registration on transfer deadline day was concluded before the closure of the transfer window in England and Scotland needs to meet the FA’s criteria for a work permit.

The 28 year old who has been frozen out of the first team set up at Celtic hasn’t played in 75% of Nigeria games in the last two years , but also because of the Eagles poor rating by FIFA.

Super Eagles are rated 50th in the World, but if it were lower Ambrose would have gotten his permit as he has played twice for Nigeria in 2015 and thrice in 2016. The two years under review.

Blackburn Rovers are still hopeful a deal can be done using a special case tribunal by arguing that Ambrose will add to the value of the second tier league judging by his pedigree.

Manager Pep Guardiola decision to omit Kelechi Iheanacho from his matchday squad for the third consecutive game sparked comments during and after Manchester City 4-0 win over West Ham United.

Owngoalnigeria.com online editor who monitored some of the comment revealed most fans of the team are off the opinion that the 20 year old Nigerian forward might spend more time on the bench.

The comments were so made following the man of the match performance of the man whose arrival drove the Nigerian down the pecking order Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus.

Even though Guardiola has insisted that the forward has a future at the club, it doesn’t seems to convince people who believed on him, rating of the Nigerian are not as high as other players ahead of him. If you want a unique and memorable customer oriented space for casino online gaming, find out more information at Dreamjackpot. In addition, free casino slot games are available here at slotomania.com.

See post on twitter below.

The European teams of some Nigerian players were in action yesterday in various leagues of the world, however not all of the players got to feature, although one got off the mark for his new team.

Abiola Dauda was the only one on target in last night games involving Nigerian players, with the 28 year old scoring a brace which helped his team to a 2-0 win over Lamia in the Greece Cup.

However Kelechi Iheanacho woes at Manchester City following the arrival of Gabriel Jesus deepened, as the 20 year old was for the third game in a role not listed in the matchday squad in their 4-0 win over West Ham United.

In Belgium the semi-fnals of the Cup took place between Zulte-Waregem and Eupen, with league leaders Zulte-Waregem beating their visitors 2-0 to progress to the final.

Meanwhile Super Eagles deputy left full back Kingsley Madu was on for the entire duration of the game for Zulte-Waregem, while Henry Onyekuru who went on AWOL to force a winter move to Celtic was still not dressed by Eupen.

Head coach of Fenerbahce Dick Advocaat has given Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike a second chance at the club, few weeks after openly declaring that the striker is free to leave.

Lot of teams tried to snap up the forward but his wages and Fenerbahce demands in terms of loan fee and future permanent transfer fee scuttled the move.

Following the closure of the January transfer window, the Dutch coach according to several media sources in Turkey held a close door meeting with Emenike and Gregory Van di Wiel. The Two players he asked the club to do away with few weeks ago.

The duo will now resume training with the first team starting from today ahead of their weekend game in the league, although there are also reports that they might not make the matchday squad.