Chelsea wantaway defender Kenneth Omeruo who has been heavily linked to Turkish side Besiktas is reportedly high on the wishlist of Spanish La-Liga side Villarreal.

Omeruo’s loan switch to Besiktas has suffered a lot of hiccups since the beginning of talks two months ago, and according to Mundo Deportivo Villareal are closing in on a loan deal for the 22 year old.

Villarreal are looking for defensive cover following the sale of Eric Baily to Manchester United and Omeruo who spent last season on loan to Kasimpasa is high on their priority list.

The possible departure of Musacchio makes their interest in the Nigerian a no brainer, although they still have to fend off interest from Besiktas and demands from Chelsea.

Chelsea only want the 22 year old to leave on loan after signing a new deal but he is yet to commit himself to a new deal, and the Blues are also not willing to give any of his loan side the option of buying him permanently next summer.

The 13 Nigerian players who will be involved in Europa League campaign with their various clubsides in Europe now know the teams they will be facing in the group stage of the competition.

In Group A, Emmanuel Emenike of fenerbache and Bonaventure Dennis of Ukrainian side Zorya were grouped alongside English giants Manchester United and Dutch side Feyernoord.

Brown Ideye who lead the line for Olympiacos is Nigeria’s sole bearer in B, where his Greek side will slug it out with APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus, FC Astana of Kazakhstan and Young Boys of Switzerland.

Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun and his German side Mainz 05 were grouped alongside St. Etienne, FK Qabala and Belgium giants Anderlecht in group C.

Group D has two teams with Nigerian players on their books, with Fred Friday of Dutch side AZ Aalkmaar paired alongside Maccabi Tel Aviv where Nosa Igiebor plays and Dundalik with Russian football power house Zenit completing the group.

Olarenwaju Kayode who has been a force for Austrian side Austria Wien will see his team come up against Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic, where former Nigeria U23s forward Ubong Ekpai plays with Astra and Roma completing the teams in Group E.

Group F will see Wilfred Ndidi and Genk battle it out with Austrian side Rapid Wien, Spanish side Athletico Bilbao and and Italian Sassuolo.

In Group H, Moses Simon of Gent will go head to head with Chidi Osuchukwu of Portuguese side Braga with Konyaspor of Turkey and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine completing the group.

John Ogu and Tony Nwakaeme will both campaign with Hapoel Beer’Sheva in group K with the likes of Inter Milan and Czech side Sparta Praha.

Aminu Umar who recently won bronze with the Nigeria U23s at the Rio Olympics will alongside his teammates at Osmanlispor take on FC Zurich, Villarreal of Spain and Steaua Bucuresti.

Italian Serie A side Sampdoria have deny having a valid contract with Nigeria Olympic defender Stanley Amuzie, despite claims by his agent Stephen Makinwa, that his client is contractually bonded to them.

Owngoalnigeria.com had a chat with Makinwa who denied reports that Amuzie is a free player, insisting that he is a player of the Serie A side, but a mail from an official of the club to Owngoalnigeria.com suggest otherwise.

” I read the story on your site, and I will like you to know that, Amuzie has no contract with Sampdoria, unless if his agent is talking about another club”.

” No deal was reached between Sampdoria and Amuzie, we had him on trial and a proposed five year deal was on the cards but the injury he suffered truncated it”.

Amuzie spent last season with Portuguese second division side Olhanense on a short term contract and following his showing for Nigeria at the Olympics, he is certain to leave the team this summer.

Owngoalnigeria will in the coming days bring an update on his next destination although initial talks has it that he could be heading to Eastern Europe.

Highly rated Nigerian forward Rabiu Ali who only moved to Portugal in February has switch teams in Portugal after moving to fellow third division side Valadares.

Known for his abilities to hit very good shot, the forward who was at a point rumored to be on the wishlist of some second division team in Portugal was unveiled by Valadares three days ago.

19 year old Ali joined SC Vila from Kaduna based academy Clique FC, and made his mark in the third division league, scoring goals that have now earned him a transfer to ambitious Valadares.

According to his Faisal Abdullahi, he could leave Valadares in January as there is provision in his deal, that allows him to leave if a club in the top division comes for him.

” It’s a move that has options for him to leave base on some variable, we are hopefully he will catch the attentions of big team and subsequently move to a team higher than where he is now” He told Owngoalnigeria.com

Owngoalnigeria.com has found out the reason why former captain of the Nigeria U23s Erhun Obanor is yet to resume at second division German side Greuther Furth, despite signing the dotted lines with the team one month ago.

20 year old Obanor signed for the German side before joining the Nigeria Olympic team at their training camp in Atlanta prior to their participation at the Rio 2016 games.

He was dropped from the team and most people expect him to have resume his club career with the team but reasons behind his control have kept him in Nigeria.

” Obanor has issues with the German Embassy in Nigeria, he is yet to be given a work permit, the application was sent by the club on the 9th of August, and we were made to understand you have to give the Embassy a month notice before applying” a source close to the player told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” He will hopefully apply on the 9th of next month, hoping we won’t suffer any set back, am even confident they won’t be any”.

Watford head coach Walter Mazzari says, a decision on if club record signing Isacc Success will play against Arsenal in Saturday’s English Premiership game will be made later today.

Success was signed from Granada by the Hornets for a fee reportedly in excess of £12.5m, and despite been highly tipped to take the Premier League by storm, he is yet to get his career underway in England.

Success is yet to make his competitive debut after suffering from a leg injury but the forward returned to training on Friday but still need to prove himself on Saturday, when they will have their final session.

” He is an important player. He trained on Friday and a decision on if he is ready to play against Arsenal will be made on Saturday”. Mazzari said in his pre match conference.

Ahmed Musa will most likely have the company of another Nigerian at English Premiership Champions Leicester City, following the promotion of Layton Ndukwu to the U23s.

Rated among one of the top prospect in the Leicester City academy, the England youth international who is also eligible for Nigeria is a midfielder, who is also comfortable as a forward.

17 year old Ndukwu, has taken no time in making the step up to the U23s and has already won over the coaches with his performances in training despite his age.

He made his first appearance of the season for the U23s yesterday in their 1-4 loss to Everton, coming on as a substitute in the 64th minute and twice almost reduced the deficit with efforts that brought out good saves from the Everton shot stopper.

Last season, he scored a screamer for the U21s against Chelsea by dribbling his way past three defenders before chipping the onrushing goallkepper.

Picture credit: Leicester City

According to reports gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com, Former Nigeria U-17 and 20 forward Saviour Godwin is high on the radar of newly promoted German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.

Sources in Belgium and Germany hinted Owngoalnigeria.com transfer expert Daniel Martins, that the 20 year old, who is also courting interest from several teams in Belgium was approached by the German side last week.

RB Leipzig are reportedly looking for a winger who guarantees goals and Saviour who found the back of the net four times for KV Oostende last season is high on their priority list.

Godwin was a late omission from the Nigeria Olympics team, making the provisional list of 35 before missing the cut for the final 19 selected for the tournament, where Nigeria won bronze.

Last season he defended the colours of KV Oostende of Belgium on a one year deal with the option of a further three year base on performances, but the Belgian side didn’t take up the option to extend his stay.

David Chidozie Okereke who scored his first professional goal for Spezia in their shock win over Udinese in the Coppa Italia, has been tipped to follow in the footsteps of Roma forward Sadiq Umar.

Okereke started with the Primavera side of Spezia, same as Sadiq who moved to Roma after a season with the youth team and has since established himself in Italy as one of the top prospect in the Serie A.

At the Serie B side, he is widely regarded as one of the finest discovery since the departure of Sadiq, and the forward who was plucked from same academy as the man he is being compared to has taken to the title like a duck to water.

The Football Academy Abuja trainee was one of the stars of the last edition of the prestigious youth championship the Viareggio, where he scored four times to emerge as top scorer for the U-18s of Spezia.

A move away from Spezia is presently not on the cards, but judging by his form, it’s only a matter of time before he makes the step up to a team higher than Spezia.

18 year old Okereke will turn 19 on the 29th of August, but he has already earn himself a spot in the heart of the fans of Spezia, where he rose through the ranks at the Serie B side before making his debut last season.

Former Nigeria U-17 and 20 forward Olarenwaju Kayode scored his third goal in the qualifying series of the Europa League to lead his Austria Wien into the group stage of Europe’s second rated club competition.

Kayode scored a 68th minute winner to help the Austrian beat Rosenborg of Norway 2-1, and seal their spot in the group stage.

23 year old Kayode joined Austrian Wien last season and ended the season as his team top scorer with 13 goals. So far he has scored twice in the first two games of the season.

At the start of the summer transfer window, he claimed German side Schalke 04 are interested in his services, but nothing came out of the rumoured interest.

A veteran of two U-20 World Youth Championship with Nigeria, he has found the back of the net 38 times since moving to Europe in 2012, and has so far played for Swiss side Luzern, Israeli side Maccabi Netanya before moving to Austria.