According to reports exclusively gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com Hapoel Be’er Sheva forward Anthony Nwakaeme could be handed a call up to the Nigeria senior national team for their upcoming friendly games.

Coach Gernot Rohr has been monitoring the performances of the of the 27 year old in Israel, and going by his fine form in the Europa League and in the domestic league, Rohr could hand him a call up.

The coach took a liking to the forward after watching him in an Europa League game and penciled him down as one of the players, he would call up in the future.

Yesterday Nwakaeme took his goal tally for the Israeli side to six for the season, netting in their 5-1 thrashing of Hapoel Haifa in an Israeli league game.

Already his club teammate John Ogu has been handed a recall to the team, but if Nwakaeme is called up, it will be the first team he has been called up to the Nigeria squad at any level.

The club career of Nigeria U23 midfield dynamo Usman Muhammed is yet to get underway despite playing in almost all of Nigeria’s game at the Rio 2016 Olympics where Nigeria won bronze.

Muhammed signed a two year contract with Portuguese side Clube Desportivo Nacional popularly known as Nacional da Madeira in February from Nigeria Professional Football League side FC Taraba.

However he didn’t play a single game for the team before heading to the Olympics with Nigeria, with some reports claiming it was due to issues bothering on work permit.

However shortly after the Olympics, he terminated his contract with Nacional da Madeira due to complications surrounding the deal, and it later emerged that the issues surrounding his transfer was the reason why FIFA blocked him from making his official debut.

Since then the 21 year old has been clubless, despite his claims of strong interest in his services from another Portuguese side Vitoria Setubal in August.

Nigeria U-20 forward Orji Okonkwo has made the step up to the main team of Serie A side Bologna and could make his Serie A debut for the team later today against Palermo.

Okonkwo moved to Serie A side Bologna in the summer, in a deal first announced by Owngoalnigeria.com, and he was meant to grow through the grades before moving to the first team.

As exclusivey reported by Owngoalnigeria.com, he was elevated to the main team by coach Roberto Donadoni after his spectacular performances for the Primavera side in their youth games.

The injury to another Nigeria youth international Sadiq Umar paved the way for him to be a regular with the main team in training all through the week.

He was announced in the match day squad for the Palermo tie yesterday, and will play with a first team shirt number of 30, if he is given his debut by coach Donadoni.

The two Nigerian players coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr is planning on including in his squad for the upcoming friendlies of the team were both on target for their respective teams.

Austria Wien’s Olarenwaju Kayode and Victor Anichebe of Sunderland are two players high on the manager’s wishlist of players who will increase competition for spots in his team in attack.

As exclusively reported by Owngoalnigeria.com, Rohr has plans of meeting with Victor Anichebe later this month in England, to have talks with the 28 year old over the possibility of a recall to the team following his fine form for Sunderland.

Anichebe gave Rohr more reasons to give him a look in with a brace for Sunderland in their 3-0 win over Hull City, his third goal in his two last game, and his first brace in 10 years.

Former youth international Olarenwaju Kayode also proved Rohr is right by penciling him down for some Super Eagles test games with his 5th goal of the season as his Austrian side Austria Wien ran out 2-0 winners over Reid.

Nigeria Olympic team forward Junior Ajayi scored his second competitive goal in Al-Ahly colours by netting the curtain raiser as they romped to a 2-0 win over El Entag El Harby.

Ajayi struck in the 48th minute following up on his goal against Al-Ittihad Alexandria Club towards the end of last month in a game that ended 2-2.

The big money signing from Sfaxien of Tunisia now has two goals from six games, a sign of how well the forward is settling in his new environment, after playing a bit part role for Nigeria at the Olympics.

Last season the 20 year old scored 11 goals for Tunisian side Sfaxien, and if he maintains his current goal scoring run he could better the tally with less games in Egypt.

Signed on a five year deal, the former Shooting Stars forward is expected to be a key member for the team this season both in their domestic and continental engagements.

In his bid to strengthen the personal relationship among players of the Super Eagles, Technical Adviser of the team Gernot Rohr has put measures in place to help the players have a strong bond.

The Franco-German coach believes when players are tightly knitted off the pitch, it will enhance their on pitch performance, citing the case of Arsenal Alex Iwobi and Manchester City Kelechi Iheanacho.

The duo are very close outside the pitch and it’s clear to see on the pitch, as they get along easily. Another case study is central defence duo of Leon Balogun and Troost Ekong.

“Oyibo Wall” as they are now called are roommates in camp, and it is believed that their close relationship has impacted in their strong combination at the heart of Nigeria’s defence.

” We are trying to build a family atmosphere in camp. Players need to spend time together off the pitch, it helps performance on the pitch. Measures will be put in place to help our players bond properly” Rohr told Owngoalnigeria.com

German born Nigerian defender Kelvin Akpoguma is still very much in the sight of the national team selectors of Nigeria, with coach Gernot Rohr confident about the chances of the 21 year old playing for Nigeria.

Akpoguma is already a full fledged international for Germany at youth level but Rohr believes he stands a greater chance of fulfilling his international potentials with Nigeria than Germany.

Presently out on loan to second division German side Fortuna Dusseldorf from Bundesliga side Hoffeinheim, the hard tackling defender is one of the pillars of the promotion chasing team.

Although he has reiterated his desires to eye a spot in the German senior national team from the U-21s, Rohr is of the opinion that the success of Leon Balogun could force him to have a rethink.

” It’s so normal for players to inspire other players. If Nigeria achieve good things with Leon Balogun in the team. Naturally it could help convince other players from same country to switch allegiance to Nigeria. We hope it happens”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Former Nigeria U-17 left footed ace Femi Joseph Olatubosun says he is eager to play for the senior national team of Angola, as he believes he is more suited to their culture, ways and management style than he is with Nigeria.

The Pepsi Football Academy graduate has found a new home in Angola, where he is happily married with a son and turned out for Caala in the Angolan top league, before moving to Ayia Napa of Cyprus.

The death of his son made him terminate his contract in Cyprus as he needed to return back to Angola, so as to be close with his family. He presently plays for Academica Petroleos do Lobito in the same country he now calls home since 2009.

25 year old Femi strongly believes that he stands a chance of playing for Angola at senior level, despite representing Nigeria at junior level as they are more professional in the management of their football.

” Am not begging to play for Angola. It has been my dream for a while, it almost happened before I left for Cyprus. Now that am back, am eager to turn out for Angola. It is my home” He told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” A call up to the Angolan team will be a dream come true for me. They are very professional in the way they run their football than Nigeria, it’s painful but I have to say it.

” I know to earn a call up to Angola,one has to be at his best but for Nigeria you necessarily don’t have to be good. Sometimes you have to know somebody, who knows the man in charge. It’s that bad”.

Femi was a member of the late Yemi Tella lead Under-17 team of 2007 but injury ruled him out on the World Cup in South Korea, despite impressing for the team during an 8 Nations Tournament held in same country that hosted the World Cup.

The weekly earnings of Nigerian players based abroad have often been a subject of discussion among football lovers in the soccer crazy West Africa nation.

Owngoalnigeria.com did a search using various means to know the earnings of some players in high paying leagues, and from our search Shanghai Shenhua Obafemi Martins is currently the highest earning Nigerian player.

Martins is earning twice as much as Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi in China, with the Chelsea man second in the list of highest earning Nigerian players.

Leicester City big money buy Ahmed Musa is third on the list, while Mikel’s teammate Victor Moses is fourth with Fenerbache Emmanuel Emenike rounding up the top five.

1.Obafemi Martins £180,000
2.Mikel John Obi. £75,000
3.Ahmed Musa. £60,000
4.Victor Moses. £45,000
5.Emmanuel Emenike £40,000

A top official of the Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed that, they did almost all they could to stop Gernot Rohr from inviting Victor Moses for Nigeria’s World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Algeria.

Moses scored a brace for Nigeria as they ran out 3-1 winners over Algeria to further strengthened their lead as group leaders in Group B of the CAF World Cup 2018 Qualifiers.

However some members of the Technical Committee were not in support of his invitation for the game, due to reports that he deliberately skipped the last game against Zambia in Ndola.

The Chelsea wing back called up injured after a league game for Chelsea, a week before Nigeria’s first World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Zambia, and some Nigerian felt he feigned injury to skip the tie.

” I must confess, some members of the Technical Committee myself inclusive never wanted Victor Moses in the team for the game against Algeria, but Rohr insist on him”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” Maybe we read the papers too much but we were convinced to an extent that he skipped the tie against Zambia deliberately but after his performance against Algeria, am glad Rohr ignored our pressure to drop him”.