Former Chelsea midfield hard man Emmanuel Petit says Brazilian winger Willian is reducing the efficiency of wing back Victor Moses when it comes to taking up attacking positions.

Petit made the assertions while working as a pundit in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace where Willian started ahead of Spanish winger Pedro, who according to him gives Moses the chance to take up goal scoring positions in the box of opponents.

” Moses wasn’t so good in the game, and that affected Chelsea going forward, he missed Pedro, his regular mate on the right wing. He is yet to truly understand how to link up with Willian who doesn’t offer much in defending like Pedro”, Petit said.

” Pedro is quick to close down opponents and that leaves Moses with few work to do defensively, so he can bomb forward when in possession but Willian is not that type, which means Moses has to do more defensively with him.

Former Nigeria youth international Emma Sarki says he has no regret dumping the Nigeria senior national team for Haiti, despite the gulf in class between the two nations.

Sarki told Owngoalnigeria.com in a chat that, he feels more at home in Haiti than with Nigeria, where the politics of team selection can lead to coaches asking players to pay money for spot in the team.

The former Chelsea teen prospect who represented Nigeria at U-17, 20 and 23 level said, while playing in Israel he was told to pay money for him to be invited to the Nigeria national team.

” I am comfortable with playing for Haiti. You get picked on your form not on what you have to offer the coaches. I was once told to pay before am called up, but that was when I was playing in Israel”, the AEL LImassol forward told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” I won’t mention the name of the coach but back then Efe Ambrose gave me the contact of the coach after telling him of my form, I put a call across to him but he told me to speak with his assistant, who openly asked me for tips.

” A lot of friends asked me to pay the money but the sum they were quoting was way more than what I can afford. I couldn’t and despite my fine form, I wasn’t contacted again. No regret though am cool with Haiti, the land of my grand father”.

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has released the mandate to Central Bank of Nigeria for payment of naira equivalent of US$1,173,820.00 at N305/$ to Nigeria Football Federation to pay outstanding winning bonuses for Super Eagles in the 2018 World Cup Qualifying Matches and for the Super Falcons’ participation in the 10th Women’s Africa nations Cup.

This is in furtherance of the approval from Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, for the said amount to be paid.

The mandate, which is a sum of N358 million, was paid by Central bank of Nigeria on Thursday, a statement signed Kenechukwu N, on behalf of the Accountant General, said.

Similarly, another mandate for N113.8 million has also been released by Office of Accountant General of the Federation for the payment of wining bonus for Super Eagles in the 2018 World Cup Qualifying matches; and for the Super Falcon’s participation in the 10th Women’s Africa Nation’s Cup.

This amount has also been paid to Nigeria Football Federation and is equally sequel to the approval of the minister of finance.

Courtesy: Premium Times

Contrary to widespread reports that Super Eagles star midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has given the players of the victorious Super Falcons players 1 million naira, Owngoalnigeria.com understands that he actually gave more than what has been reported.

Sources close to the player revealed that he gave the team, the sum of 1.5m naira, and has also gone a step further in speaking to some big wigs in the Nigeria Football Federation and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to bring to an end the non payment of the bonuses of the team.

The Falcons conquered Africa to win the Africa Women Championship in Cameroon for the 8th time by defeating the host 1-0 in the final, but they achieved the record feat without receiving any of the match bonus due to them.

Since winning the tournament they have been involved in a spat with the NFF and the Ministry of Sports over their unpaid wages, and events took a different turn when the ladies staged a protest march to the Nigeria house of assembly.

A directive to pay them their outstanding allowances in 48 hours was issued by the Presidency but recent reports indicate that, the ladies won’t be getting their pay today which happens to be the deadline.

Nigeria youth international Lukman Zakari is in the list of best 20 young defenders under the age of 18 in the world according to Italian publication Tuttosport.

In a review of the best 20 upcoming defenders in the world, the highly respected Italian publication named the soon to be 18 years old in the list on the account of his strong showing for Nigeria at the World Youth Championship in Chile.

Zakari was ever present for the Nigeria U17 as they romped to the World Crown in Chile last year, and he was one of the few bright sparks from their ill fated Africa Youth Championship Qualifiers.

He has been linked to several teams in Europe and Africa since tearing up his deal with Tunisian side Sfaxien due to their failure to properly conclude his transfer formalities, despite signing a pre contract.

All efforts by Owngoalnigeria.com to reach the defender proved abortive, and even his adviser Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman refused to comment on the feat achieved by the Unity Academy of Kaduna prospect.

Hot in demand Manchester City loanee Chidiebere Nwakali is currently stalling on an offer of contract extension by the Etihad based outfit, as he wants assurances of his chances of making the first team.

Presently out on loan to Norwegian side Start, he has so far made 22 appearances with three goals to his name from his role as a midfielder, which has lead to talks of a contract extension by Manchester City.

19 year old Nwakali is finally delivering on the promises that made Manchester City splash out on him and wonder kid Kelechi Iheanacho, who has become a main stay in the first team.

Although Nwakali took a while to get going after failed loan spells at Spanish side Malaga and Girona. He has been one of the consistent performers for Start, who are struggling to stay in the top division in Norway.

” He has offers from top teams in Norway and some other teams in Europe as well but Manchester City is still his priority. He wants to stay and prove his worth like his friend Iheanacho is doing. But he wants assurances that he will be given a shot at the first team by the manager”. A source told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Former Nigeria U-17 midfielder Jack Ipalibo who played for Spanish side Villarreal in their 0-1 loss to Nigeria League runners up Rivers United says he moved to the Spanish side in order to get the attention of the Nigeria national team handlers.

Jackie as he is fondly called by close friends and associates left the camp of the Nigeria U-20 during preparations for their ill fated Africa Youth Championship Qualifiers to team up with the Spanish side, where he has grown into one of the integral players of the B team.

“It is the dream of every professional footballer to play for his country at senior level and I am no different.
“One of the major reasons why I came to Europe is because I want to achieve this desire to play for the Super Eagles one day,”

“I will advise young players like me who want to make it in Europe to be disciplined when they get here because it is not easy to make it at this level,” he said.

Nigeria Rio 2016 defender Saturday Keigo Erimuya who has agreed a deal to join Spanish second division side Cadiz is currently embroiled in an ownership tussle that could scuttle the deal.

Owngoalnigeria.com has in it’s possession a document from Lagos based football side Real Sapphire Football Club agreeing a deal with the original owner of the economic right of the defender BJ Foundation before his move to Kayseri Erciyesspor Kulubu Dernegi of Turkey.

In the document, the Lagos based side are entitled to 50% of his future transfer to any team from the Turkish side, but Saturday terminated his deal with the team after returning from the Olympics in Rio.

Saturday refused to return to the team following their relegation to the third division in Turkey, and after months at home, he had a short trial with Cadiz which he passed and was offered a deal which will come to effect in January.

But the deal is apparently on the verge of collapse as Real Sapphire Football Club of Lagos are standing by the agreement they had with BJ Foundation before his move to Turkey in January. SEE DOCUMENT BELOW

Dele Alampasu is close to ending his three months loan deal with Portuguese third division team Cesarense, the team he joined from top division side CD Feirense.

So far he has made 8 league appearances for the team, but with no clean sheet to his name, the 19 year old was dropped for their last game against Gondomar.

Ironically the man who replaced him Bruno Pinto kept a clean sheet and helped them to their first win in three months, a run that coincided with when Alampasu was first choice.

Although there are reports that Cesarense wants him to extend his loan deal, the bottom placed team are now having doubts about his abilities after their winless run came to an end without him.

A decision on his possible return or extension of loan will be made after their next league game Estarreja on Sunday, a game that will officially bring to an end, the three months loan of the recently invited Super Eagles shot stopper.