Arsenal forward Theo Walcott has showered praises on 20 year old Nigerian forward Alex Iwobi over the manner in which he scored Arsenal’s third goal in their 3-1 win over Stoke City.

The gunners recovered from going behind through a Charlie Adam penalty to beat “The Potters” 3-1, thanks to goals from Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Iwobi, but Walcott says the third scored by Iwobi who came on as a substitute played a big role in the final outcome of the game.

“It’s going well for us at the moment,” Walcott said. “The use of the squad as well – I can’t praise enough the amount of players that are ready when they’re called upon.
“Obviously like Alex did today – 2-1 is not a nice sort of score at the time but he had a fantastic finish after great work from Alexis.”

Vicenza of Italy defender Daniel Adejo has issued a come and get me plea to coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr, as he believes he can do a job for the team defensively.

Adejo has been ever present for his Serie B side, a team he joined last season after he was released by Greek side Kalloni in January.

The 27 year old who represented Nigeria at the 2009 World Youth Championship while he was playing for Serie A side Reggina has made 15 appearances so far, and his ability to play across the back four has seen him earned praises from the press in Italy.

” I can play anywhere across the back four, I started off as a right back, for some time I played as a left back although have been playing as a central defender for some time now”, Adejo told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” The super Eagles is still my dream like every other Nigerian player. Am here if the manager wants me and I believe I will help make the team defence stronger than it is now”.

The fine performances of on loan Arsenal midfielder Kelechi Nwakali has earned him praises from the manager of his loan side Ron Elsen of MVV Maastricht.

Nwakali scored his first professional goal in MVV 2-0 win over De Graafschap in what was his 10th appearance of the season after his loan move in the summer.

The manner in which he took his goal made the manager praise him as a rare gem, who has the calmness of a seasoned professional.

” He (Nwakali) took his goal calmly, no pressure despite how late the goal came. He is a rare gem with the calmness of a seasoned professional in front of goal”, Elsen said at the post match conference.

” I like his confidence on the ball, he is not the type who can be hurried into making a pass or shooting at goal. He has a big future ahead of him if he maintains his growth”.

Former golden boy of Nigeria football Macauley Chrisantus says he has regrets over his time at German side Hamburg, where he spent six years during the formative years of his career.

The shy talking forward came to limelight during the 2007 Under-17 Championship where he emerged as top scorer and silver ball winner. However nine years on from that time, he is yet to make the step up to the senior national team of Nigeria.

Chrisantus who presently plays for Spanish second division side Reus Deportiu told Owngoalnigeria.com that the years he spent at the German side, without getting to play in the first team cost him the chance to still be at the top.

” What I went through at Hamburg was crazy, six years, 10 different coaches. I was always close to the first team but as it is in football, most managers have what they want, so every new manager always comes with special demands” He told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” I know people will always compare my career growth to that of Toni Kroos at Real Madrid, but if it wasn’t for coach Jupp Heynckes who gave him his breakthrough at Bayern Munich because he spent three years at the club, who knows as just like me, he also had four different spells away from the first team”.

In continuation of our monitoring of Nigerian players based abroad, Owngoalnigeria.com takes a look at how some of the players fare after Sunday games in various European Leagues.

Tyroone Ebuehi & Taiwo Awoniyi ( ADO Den Haag & NEC Nijmegen, Netherlands )
Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi failed to add to his league appearances of nine this season for his loan side NEC Nijmegen who were 3-0 winners over ADO Den Haag. Awoniyi was an unused substitute in the game.

Same game was an evening to forget for Dutch-Nigerian Ebuehi, who scored an unfortunate own goal in the 12th minute to further compound the woes of his team after conceding just after 10 minutes.

Godfrey Obaboana (Rizespor, Turkey)

Another game and another bench role for the 26 year old, who claimed his bench role five days ago was due to fatigue. However while he watched from the bench for the entire duration of the 1-0 loss, Emem Eduok scored the winner for Kasimpasa, who left Kenneth Otigba out due to suspension.

Ahmed Musa (Leicester City, England)

Super Eagles vice captain Ahmed Musa was once again snubbed by Claudio Ranieri as the champions punish Manchester City 4-2. Kelechi Iheanacho fired blank for Man City before he was substituted while Tosin Adarabioyio didn’t get off the bench.

Former Nigeria youth international Kingsley Sokari scored his first goal of the season for Tunisian side Sfaxien in their 2-1 win over AS Ben Guerdane in a league game.

Sfaxien ended the game with 10 men on the pitch following the late sending off of Karim Aouadhi, but there was joy for their 21 year old Nigerian at the end of the game.

Sokari scored the opener for his team in the 31st minute before Alaa Marzouki doubled their lead three minutes later, Before Hatem Ben Salem scored a consolation goal for the visitors in the 69th minute.

The Nigerian was also awarded the man of the match award as he continues his fine start to the season, where he is presently one of the first name on the team sheet for table topper CS Sfaxien.

So far he has made seven appearances from a possible ten, which make nonsense of reports that he is about to be offloaded by the team.

Stefano Okaka whose brace helped Watford beat Everton 3-2 in the English Premier League has revealed why he opt for Italy ahead of Nigeria at International level.

Prior to making his debut for Italy, the Italian born Nigerian was approached by Nigeria but turned down the chance to play for the West Africa nation because he will feel like a stranger in their midst.

”I talked to everyone, gave me lots of advice. Despite my roots, with Nigeria I would have felt a bit of a foreigner. I said no, I do not know their culture, the language, nothing of that country.

”It’s everyone’s dream to play for the national team and I made it. I’m sure that’s just the beginning of many other experiences,” Stefano Okaka concluded.

The 27 year old has four caps for Italy with a goal to his name scored on his debut against Albania in 2014, which ended as the winner.