English Premier League side Nottingham Forest are having one of their best seasons in recent time sitting third on the league standings and with a strong chance of playing European football next season, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Led by Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo, they have surpassed all expectations with their run this season, especially the manner they have gone about it by having less possession yet so effective in the opposition half with Chris Woods leading the line.

Despite their forwards getting the accolades for the remarkable run, the official website of the English Premier League ran a story on why Nigeria international defender Ola Aina is the driving force behind Forest’s success so far.

Below is an extract from the story which was mainly focused on how the 28 year old has rescued points for Forest with his goal line clearance, which is the highest in the league this season.

This season, Forest have the most effective and important goal-line defender in the Premier League in Ola Aina.

Nobody has made more goal-line clearances this season than the Forest defender (three), and all three of his have been crucial to the team’s result.

Back in November, he cleared a Dara O’Shea header off the line in Forest’s 1-0 win over Ipswich Town. Assuming everything else stays the same, then without that block, Forest would have dropped two points.

Then, in Forest’s last two matches, Aina has made more crucial interventions. He cleared a goal-bound shot from Mohamed Salah in the 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool with the scores level in the dying minutes, and in Forest’s 3-2 win over Southampton last week, only an Aina goal-line clearance denied Saints a draw, having fought back from 3-0 down.

In total, Aina’s three goal-line clearances have essentially earned Forest five points: wins rather than draws with Ipswich and Southampton, and a draw rather than a defeat against Liverpool. Five points from goal-line clearances is more than any other player in the league.

In fact, Everton are the only team whose players have earned more points through goal-line clearances in the Premier League this season (six) than Aina. With five goal-line clearances, Newcastle United’s players have won as many points (five) as Aina alone.

Per multiple reports the prime target of Manchester United in the ongoing January transfer window is 20 year old Lecce left back Patrick Dorgu.

Talks have been on between both teams in a bid to find an agreement in the coming days with the defender said to be keen on moving to the English side rather than join Napoli in the summer, but will spend the rest of the season at his present side.

Dorgu is of Nigerian descent and was eligible to play for the senior national team of Nigeria until September last year, when he made his debut for the senior national team of Denmark, the country of his birth. He has since gone on to pick three more caps.

While in the camp of the Danish U21 last year, he was asked about playing for Denmark at the Euros, which will effectively killed any dream or chance of switching his allegiance to Nigeria, and he stayed coy on that very significant decision.

“I haven’t thought about that. Everyone dreams of being able to represent their country,” Dorgu told bold.dk.

“I was born in Denmark and have African roots, and right now I haven’t thought about having to make a choice.

“I just play football and let it come with time.”

In November 2023 when we spoke with his representative, he revealed that playing for Nigeria is an option his client will consider judging by the fact that he is eligible to play for his roots.

” He is Nigerian so you can’t rule it out. Presently he is with the U21 of Denmark and we will like it to be that way and see what the future holds. Interesting to note is that his rise and career decisions have been spot on so far, and the same route we will use when it’s time to make a decision on his international future”, a representative of OUS group who recently entered into a partnership with CAA Base on managing the left back told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers scored his 17th goal of the season in their 1-2 defeat to Manchester United in the Europa League at Old Trafford, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Dessers is rumoured to be pushing for an exit from the club, before the close of the January transfer window after losing his spot to Hamza Igamane still has two years left on his deal at the club.

Despite his very good return in front of goal, his worth to the Scottish side divides opinion among fans of the team leading to some boos over the weekend. However he has been openly backed by coach Philippe Clement who is a huge admirer of his finishing abilities.

At international level his goal scoring prowess at club level haven’t been seen as good enough to earn him a spot in the Nigerian team for a sustained period. He has six caps for Nigeria with two goals.

Ironically he has a better games to goal ratio than every other striker who is playing second fiddle to main man Victor Osimhen, making his omission the more bewildering and hard to explain. Even Dessers I believe has no knowledge about his sparse caps in the last few years.

He scored the first goal of the Jose Peseiro era as coach, he also scored the first goal of the start of the tenure of Finidi George but on both occasions never got a look in after then.

His best run in front of goal the past three years came during the tenure of Austine Eguavoen during the AFCON qualifiers, but still wants seen as good enough to have him in the squad for any of the game.

Capped by Rohr after an extra ordinary season in the Netherlands where he scored 18 goals in 29 games. He got snubbed afterwards and even his return of 21 goals in 47 games for Feyenoord wasn’t seen as good enough by Rohr to hand him another chance.

With Eric Chelle now in charge and the Super Eagles needing goals to make it to the 2026 world cup, will Dessers who presently has the best record of all Nigerian forward in Europe at the moment be in the mix?

Will Chelle look back at his goal at Old Trafford and say the manner of his finish will be useful against Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively in March?

Time will tell.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen was involved in a bust up with three Turkish journalists who attempted to capture him while he was leaving a popular nightclub on a day that was declared for mourning following a tragic incident.

Almost 80 people lost their lives in the Turkish city of Kartalkaya throwing the country into a state of mourning. However that appears not to be of concern to Osimhen and his friends who partied all night at Tofes 99 Sports Bar in Maslak 1453.

Just when they were about leaving, Osimhen noticed three journalists which includes a cameraman in İsmail Zen, a reporter named Ismail Zen and another who wasn’t named. All three work for Turkish media outfit Posta and Sabah.

According to reports in the Turkish media, the on loan Napoli forward who has 15 goals for Galatasary in all competitions became uncomfortable upon noticing that they were trying to take pictures of him.

He confronted them, demanding the deletion of the footage which led to an escalation of the situation leaving Osimhen very annoyed and threatened the trio using English language ” “If I see this footage anywhere, I will destroy you”.

After a while, it was said by the same publication that he attempted to bribe the reporters not to release the footage or even write about the bust up, which they blatantly rejected.

Galatasary and the camp of the Nigerian are yet to respond to the claims by the Turkish media which has now gone viral in the last 24 hours.

Ade Emmanuel

– Next year some of the top stars have their contracts coming to an end. Let’s try to see if they have said their last word in football or if they will find new clubs.

Many footballers after 30 play a maximum of 5 years and end their career. This is how the whole eras of football go away. Today many top footballers play outside Europe. But does it mean that they have become worse? Is their return to the top championships possible? These questions are difficult to answer. However, several interesting players have passed their peak and whose contracts will expire in 2025. And they could well strengthen European teams. We will talk about them today.

Mohamed Salah

After his move from Roma to Liverpool, he was the main star of the team. During Klopp’s coaching period, it was Salah who was associated with the club by neutral fans. Staying at the club for 7 seasons he became a legend of the team and won with it the coveted title of the champion of England.

Now his contract is coming to an end. In fact, in a month Mohamed can sign a preliminary agreement with other clubs. And while Liverpool itself is in no hurry to conclude a contract with him.

Salah is disappointed with such actions of the team management and fans are already making the best football prediction whether Mohamed will change the team in 2025. The reason is the age and salary of the player. A year ago, clubs from Saudi Arabia were interested in him, so it is quite possible that this is Salah’s last season in Europe.

Neymar

This footballer broke the whole transfer market. It was him that PSG bought from Barcelona paying a crazy clause of 250 million dollars. After such a transition, the prices for player transfers soared several times. However, in Paris, Neymar was not able to open up and get out from under the shadow of Messi. It would seem that everything was done for him, but the player always lacked something. In the end, he was sold to Al-Hilal for $98 million.

But in the Muslim country, he could not take root. Moreover, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury. Because of the injury, he was out of the team’s squad and did not play for a year. Now the player is 32 and most likely the club will try to sell Neymar. Therefore, it is quite possible that he, like many Brazilians, will go to his homeland to finish playing. There fans will be able to bet on both teams to score predictions and one of the goals may well be scored by Neymar himself.

Lionel Messi

This is a legend of Barcelona and world football. A player of incredible talent and the leader of the Catalan team. During his presence in Barcelona, he has won:

• 10 Spanish Championships;
• 7 Spanish Cups;
• 8 Spanish Super Cups;
• 4 Champions Leagues;
• 3 UEFA Super Cups;
• 3 Club World Cups;
• 6 Golden Balls.

In addition, he was the champion of France and the USA. With the national team, Messi won the America’s Cup, Olympics, and World Cup (both youth and adult). Unfortunately, after 2022 his career will wane. But the player is already 37 years old, so it’s not surprising. Very soon Messi’s contract with Inter Miami will expire. It is still unclear whether they will renew it with him. But if not, he has the opportunity to return to his native clubs in Argentina and try to win the domestic championship as well.

Joshua Kimmich

The only player who is not yet 30 years old. Which means he can get another contract at the top level. Compared to all the players above, Kimmich is the one Bayern wants to extend his contract with. But whether the player himself will want it is a big question. Spanish grandees have been interested in him many times.

For Joshua it is an opportunity to change the situation, to try himself at another level, because with Bayern he won everything he could. Also, some analysts reported that Kimmich would like to try his hand in England. Perhaps soon we will see the player of the German national team in Foggy Albion. In any case, all roads are open for him, and his physical condition still allows him enough time to play at a high level.

Conclusion

Many analysts, including xGscore.io, could add many talented players to this list. But these players are top stars. They have written their name in the history of football and could be quite useful to more than one team. But we will know how their fate will turn out in 2025.

The January transfer window is now in full swing and Nigerian players are not left out of it with as many as six of them making high profile moves, while others are also said to be a subject of interest to certain teams.

OwnGoalNigeria.com picks five top stories involving Nigerian players that have been in the news recently and generating lot of talks in the ongoing transfer window.

Jerome Akor To Sevilla – Came out of the blues and his move to Montpellier where he has spent less than two seasons is said to be as good as done. His season haven’t been at the same level like it was in his debut year with just three goals. The last of which came in September. Sevilla might just be where he hit the form that made him an instant hit in Ligue 1.

Samuel Chukwueze To Real Sociedad – With AC Milan open to the idea of letting him leave in the ongoing transfer window, Real Sociedad appears to be in pole to land him with a return to Spain said to be of interest to the winger who hasn’t found his feet since leaving another Spanish side Villarreal for Italy.

Wilfred Ndidi To Monaco – Another news which came out of no where. Ace Nigerian journalist Shina Okeleji revealed options available to the Nigerian to leave in January with Monaco top of the list. Leicester City are however opposed to his exit but will sanction it if an offer that matches his valuation is lodged.

Kelechi Iheanacho To Leeds United – The impending arrival of Akor his fellow Nigerian can only mean that Iheanacho is on his way out of Sevilla after just six months at the club. Leeds United are said to be leading the pack of teams interested in having his services.

Bruno Onyemaechi To Olympiacos – A deal that is expected to be completed by the weekend with financial troubled Boavista accepting a fee of €2.5m according to multiple reports. The Nigeria international shunned a move to Turkish side Trabzonspor in favor of the Greek team who are the reigning champions of the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Daniel Martins

English Championship leaders Leeds United have stepped up their effort in their bid to sign out of favour Nigeria international striker Kelechi Iheanacho from Sevilla, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Leeds went top of the English Championship yesterday with a 2-0 win over Norwich City, but coach Daniel Farke is keen on adding more experience to his forward line and have Iheanacho high up in his list.

Iheanacho who played a role in helping Leicester City return to the English Premier League hasn’t found his feet at Sevilla following his move in the summer on a free transfer, and has agreed to leave the club in the January transfer window.

The club want an outright sale or a possible termination of his deal that will see him leave for free, but Leeds United prefer a loan deal with an option to sign him permanently in the summer.

Speaking on the future of Iheanacho at the club, Sevilla’s Sporting director Victor Orta left the door open for potential exits from the club, but refused to categorically mention the name of Iheanacho.

“The market is open. We have the obligation to study all the offers. There are three parts. The players also have their feelings about their future. With the market open, anything can happen with any name,” Orta said in a press conference, per Diario de Sevilla.

Daniel Martins

The likelihood of Maduka Okoye missing out on the Super Eagles squad for the world cup qualifiers is at the moment very high with no date set for his return from a wrist injury, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

It will likely mean an opening for Francis Uzoho who was not part of the team at any point during the qualifiers for the AFCON to stage a return to the team. Uzoho hasn’t been involved since losing his spot to Francis Nwabali just before the last Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Okoye’s pending absence was expected to hand him a route back into the setup but sources say that isn’t the case at the moment unless his club form at Cyprus side Omonia Nicosia improves before the games in March

” Uzoho have only played three games this season in all competitions. I don’t think he will be in the conversation for a call up because they are others doing well in Europe even in the same Cyprus like Adebayo Adeleye. The new coach is heavy on picking only players who are having regular run of games”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” For Uzoho to come back into the team his club form has to improve drastically. What we have now is one of our most experienced goalkeepers sitting idle for almost two years and it’s unacceptable”.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman