Coach of Leicester City Claudio Ranieri has heaped praises on Wilfred Ndidi following his performance on his debut in their 2-1 win over Everton in the FA Cup.

Ndidi was his usual self covering almost every blade of the pitch, and linking up nicely with Danny Drinkwater in the middle with nice and little touches to keep the team going.

Although his Nigerian compatriot at the club Ahmed Musa came off the bench to steal the headline, Ranieri was surprised by the performance of Ndidi after just two sessions.

” He was outstanding after two training sessions. I’m very satisfied. We made a very good purchase. He has proven me right”, Ranieri said.

Former Arsenal midfield maestro Paul Merson believes Chelsea wingback Victor Moses is important to the team just like regular goal scorers Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.
The Nigerian has been tremendous this season for Chelsea with 21 appearances to his name and four goals despite playing in an unfamiliar role as a wing back.

Merson while speaking on Sky Sports credit the Nigerian for slotting into the wing back role in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system with ease despite never playing in that role in the past.

” You talk about Eden Hazard and Diego Costa but Moses has been as important as anyone in making the system work for Conte and he’s also scored some important goals”, Merson said.
” To consider he’d never played that role before is just incredible”.

English League One club Notts County have brought in much-travelled Crystal Palace striker Freddie Ladapo on loan for the rest of the season.

The former Colchester United, Nuneaton, Kidderminster Harriers and Margate forward spent the first half of this season at Town’s rivals Oldham.

He became the day’s second signing after the arrival of winger Alex Rodman.

The addition of loan signing Ladapo, who scored twice in 17 league appearances for Oldham, and Rodman, for an undisclosed fee, follows Hartlepool defender Toto Nsiala’s New Year’s Day arrival.

Ladapo trained with the Nigeria U-20 team of 2013 but failed to make the cut for the World Youth Championship.

Nigeria Professional Football League side MFM FC have lost the services of one of their dependable defenders Kenny Yisa Anifowoshe who has pitched tent with Al Ittihad Club of Oman.

His capture was officially announced by the club yesterday and he was subsequently unveiled with shirt number 14 by the team from the Middle East.

Anifowoshe departure like that of so many players in the Nigeria Professional Football League has not been announced by the club,which is owned by the Mountain of Fire Ministry.

He played a big role in the fine run of MFM FC at the start of the Nigeria Professional Football League last season, but their debut season almost ended in disaster as they were close to been relegated.

Last season MFM FC narrowly escaped relegation from the top flight league, securing their status on the last day of the season, thanks to a hard fought 2-1 win over FC Ifeanyi Uba and Heartland FC 1-2 loss to Plateau United.

Fit again former Nigeria U-20 ace Suleiman Abdullahi has outlined his priority for the year 2017, which include helping his team Eintracht Braunschweig gain promotion to the Bundesliga and playing for the Super Eagles.

Speaking with Owngoalnigeria.com in Kaduna shortly after the Moses Simon wedding anniversary game, the 20 year old who joined the team in the summer from Norwegian side Viking expressed his joy at being fit again.

Abdullahi had a whirlwind start with the high flying German side scoring in almost all of their pre season games before picking up a knee injury in their final warm up game, which restricted him to just one appearance before the league went on a Christmas break.

” I’m very happy to be fit again. It’s boring when you don’t play football but one has to be patient and take set backs when they come. I have learnt that during my injury forced absence”, Abdullahi told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” This 2017 means a lot to me, it is the year where I hope to play for Nigeria that is if by the grace of God am able to help my team secure promotion to the Bundesliga. We are top now with a two point lead”.

Former Golden boy of Nigeria football Lukman Haruna has been officially released by Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev after failing to make an impact at the club.

Haruna who was once tipped to captain the Super Eagles joined Dynamo Kiev in 2011 from French side Monaco on a five and half year deal, but failed to deliver on the promises that made them splash €1.5m on him.

Throughout his stay at the club, he failed to make 20 league appearances in each of the season he played which is three in number, no thanks to poor form and injuries.

A short loan move to fellow Ukrainian side Hoverla failed to help him return back to his old self, and back to back termination of two consecutive loan spells before their end at Russian side Anzhi and Astana of Kazakhstan respectively speaks volume of his dip in form.

The 26 year old reportedly failed a medical with Serbian side Partizan Belgarde, although some other reports claimed he was too expensive for the Serbian giants.

Captain of the senior Nigeria national team John Obi Mikel will begin his career with Chinese side Tianjin Teda on the 11th of January 2017.

Mikel officially joined the Chinese side two days back after passing a routine medical check up, bringing to an end a ten and half year stay at Stamford Bridge.

Reports has it that the 29 year old will command a weekly wage of £140,000, twice his earning at his former side Chelsea although there has been no official confirmation of his pay.

In four days time Mikel is expected to be dressed for Tianjin Teda when they take on German side Borussia Monchengladbach in a friendly game.

If he doesn’t take part in the tie, he will be expected to be in the line up when they take on another German side St. Pauli on the 14th in another friendly encounter.

He is expected to play in one of the two games before they take on Romanian side Dinamo Bucuresti in their last test game ahead of the start of the Chineses Super League in February.

Latest Super Eagles defender Tyronne Ebuehi came up against established Eagles man Leon Balogun as ADO Den Haag forced Mainz 05 to a 1-1 draw in a friendly tie.

Ebuehi started on the right while Balogun was introduced as a substitute as he continues to work his way back to full fitness, after shaking off the injury that kept him out of the team’s final round of games towards the end of the first stanza in Germany.

While Balogun slotted in effortlessly in his role as a central defender after coming on with his side leading 1-0, while Ebuehi who lasted the entire duration of the game played in two different roles.

He started as a right full back but ended the game as a left full back, one of the trait that coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr talked about when confirming his availability for Eagles upcoming friendly tie.

The fact that he excelled in both roles will gladden the heart of fans of Super Eagles who are concerned about the full back issues of the team, as noticed during the World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has been roundly criticised by social media users over the choice of Kelechi Iheanacho as Africa Promising Player of the year 2016.

Iheanacho won same award in 2013 and picked up the young player award in 2015 before winning the promising player award again last night.

CAF was roundly criticized by social media users for once again awarding him an award, he should have outgrown going by his status and club form.

Many suggested that the award was given to him to compensate Nigeria as the host of the award other than on merit as a bigger recognition best suits his status.