Head coach of French Ligue 1 side Nantes Antoine Kombouaré has once again aired his opinion on why Nigeria international winger Moses Simon is special, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Simon found the back of the net for Nantes in their 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne, it was his fifth goal of the season and he also boast of five assists this season in just 16 games.

Returning from an ankle injury which brought his season to a premature end, the 29 year old was expected to take some time to get back to his best levels, but that hasn’t been the case with his splendid performance for club and country since his return.

Speaking after the 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne, Kombouaré while explaining the decision to start 18 year old Herba Guirassy said more is still expected from him like Simon who can play anywhere on the pitch to maximum effect.

“Herba Guirassy? It’s rewarding him for his last appearances with us. He deserved to be a starter. I expected a little more from him, but he’s young. I wanted him to dribble more, to play with his qualities. On the left, there’s Simon. He played the game we expected of him. He’s capable of playing anywhere”, he explained.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

English Premier League legend Darren Bent says the bad attitude of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen is partly why he won’t be an idea signing for Arsenal in the January transfer window, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Arsenal are combing the market for a striker before the close of the January transfer window, and Osimhen who is on loan to Galatasary from Napoli has been suggested as a possible option judging by the clause in his loan deal, which gives him the right to leave in January if he receives a suitable offer.

Bent has however suggested that concerns over the attitude of the Nigerian, who fell out with Napoli in the most unceremonious manner and also verbally assaulted the former coach of the Nigerian team Finidi George, over a report credited to the coach questioning his commitment.

Osimhen took to his page on Instagram to call out the coach, and that incident appears to have sent a negative impression about his conduct which according to Bent could be a factor why he isn’t pursued by Arsenal’s boss Mikel Arteta.

Victor Osimhen, is he really going to be the answer?” Darren Bent said on talkSPORT.

“Yes, he was good at Napoli, but maybe his attitude has been questioned on occasions, that’s still a risk.

“I just don’t think you can just go out there and guarantee, right, we know he’s the guy who’s going to go and score us 20, 25 goals.”

Indeed, Bent wasn’t too hot on any of the strikers linked with Arsenal.

“[Benjamin] Sesko would be a risk by coming to Arsenal,” he said. “[Dusan] Vlahovic, he turned Arsenal down before. What’s his desire going to be to come back and actually come to the club and score goals?

“[Viktor] Gyokeres is another one. I watched him a lot of Coventry. Big fan of his, he’s at Sporting, Sporting have been doing really well.

“Can he come to the Premier League, which is the hardest league in the world to score goals in, and can he score 15 to 20? Again, it’s another risk.”

Daniel Martins

One time target of the senior national team of Nigeria Michael Kayode is putting final touches to a loan move to English Premier League side Brentford from Italian Serie A side Fiorentina, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Kayode was left out of the squad for the game against Torino by coach Raffaele Palladino with the move said to be in the final stages. According to Violanews, the Premier League outfit would like to sign the Italy-U21 international on a paid loan, with an option to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season.

A target of the former coach of Nigeria Jose Peseiro who wanted him to switch nationality and play for Nigeria, the 20 year old has failed to build on his storming performance in his breakthrough season. Losing his right back spot this season to Dodo.

This season he has made just five appearances in the league, a far cry from when he made 26 appearances and got the attention of the coach of Italy Luciano Spalletti, but injury robbed him the chance to make his senior bow for Italy, hence his eligibility for Super Eagles still remains.

However, Fiorentina are aware of the player’s potential, which is why they would like to include a buy-back clause in the deal, allowing them to bring Kayode back to the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Daniel Martins

In what can be termed as one of the quickest progress ever made by a Nigerian player Vince Osuji who until April last year was playing for Nigerian Football Academy Cardinal is set to join Belgium giants Club Brugge, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osuji joined Swedish side Kalmar last year and immediately became the talk of the league in just 15 games. Belgium side KRC Genk immediately made a swoop for him but he was denied visa leading to the collapse of the deal.

However it appears the left footed center back is set to join their rivals Club Brugge according to Sportbladet, the parties have basically agreed on a transfer and the Belgian club hopes to finalize the deal with the centre-back shortly.

Sportbladet has previously reported that Kalmar FF’s centre-back Vince Osuji was close to being sold and that Reims was one of four clubs that finalised negotiations with Kalmar.

But Reims could not meet KFF’s price tag and thus the club went instead for Malcolm Jeng, who was completed his move to the Ligue 1 club some time ago.

If the deal goes through, he will be one of the club’s most expensive sales of all time. Kalmar’s most expensive sale of all time is when the club sold Ari Ferreira to AZ Alkmaar in 2007 for 41 million kronor.

The second most expensive is Rasmus Elm when he went to the same club in 2009 for 31 million kronor and the third most expensive sale is Mileta Rajovic to Watford, who paid 24 million kronor for the striker in 2023.

Daniel Martins

Former Nigeria U17 World Cup winner Orji Okwonkwo has made his return from a drug ban imposed on him by FIFA with a loan move to second division Serie a side Cittadella from Bologna, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Okwonkwo was banned for four years by FIFA after testing positive for the steroid clostebol during a loan spell at the same club he just joined Cittadella.

Clostebol, which the player said he used to treat a problematic knee, is on the World Anti-Doping Code prohibited list.

Fifa’s disciplinary committee extended the Nado Italia sanctions to have “worldwide effect”, according to its chairperson Jorge Ivan Palacio.

“Consequently, the Committee decided to extend the sanction imposed on the player by the Italian Nado on 20 June 2022,” read a Fifa statement.

“More specifically, the player is sanctioned with a four years suspension from all football-related activities in accordance with the decision.

The initial ban was later reduced by two years, until 24 February 2024.

On 1 February 2024, he was loaned to Reggiana from Bologna, made 15 appearances for the Reggio side.

Okonkwo rejoined AS Cittadella on a new loan on 16 January and made his second debut as substitute in the 1-2 loss to Mantova.

The 27 year old was a key part of the Nigeria U17 team that won the 2015 U17 World Cup alongside the likes of Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze among others.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Former Nigeria U23 invitee Promise David scored the only goal that handed his team Union Saint-Gilloise a 1-0 win over Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the Belgium top division, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Signed in the summer from from Estonian side Kalju FC , the forward who was a part of the Nigeria U23 team that failed to make it to the last AFCON, and subsequently missed out on the Olympic has settled down to life quite brilliantly in his new surroundings.

The 23 year old struck from the spot in the 15th minute for sixth league goal of the season from 17 games and tenth overall in all competitions with his other four goals coming in the Croky Cup.

Born in Canada to parents of Nigerian descent, he is eligible for both nations at senior level, and after the disappointment of not getting a breakthrough with the Nigeria U23 he made it clear that he is open to representing either nations at senior level.

No doubt his recent run of form in front of goal would get to the new coach of the Super Eagles Eric Chelle, who has already received briefing from Austine Eguavoen the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the forward.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of French Ligue 1 side Auxerre Christophe Pélissier has given his opinion on his team’s 0-2 defeat to Angers in a French Ligue 1 game, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Auxerre were reduced to ten men very early into the game when returning Nigerian defender Gabe Osho was shown a straight red card for a foul, which denied Angers a clear goal scoring opportunity.

They were already a goal down before the sending off of the newly capped Nigeria international, but Pélissier reckoned that was the turning point in the game, alongside the own goal which handed the home side the lead in the 18th minute.

” We (Auxerre) made too many mistakes and it proved costly. Early own goal and when you are pushing to draw level a red card happened five minutes later. It’s difficult to play with ten men in this league”, the coach said.

Despite the disappointment the coach expressed optimism that his team will beat the drop to the second division at the end of the season, after gaining promotion to the top flight for the second time in three years.

Are Samuel

Coach of Southampton Ivan Juric says Nigeria international forward Paul Onuachu showed his qualities with his goal in their 2-3 defeat against Nottingham Forest, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Onuachu was introduced with around 30 minutes left to play and with Southampton losing 0-3, the 30 year sparked the team back to life but they couldn’t rescue the game.

His goal in the first minute of time added on almost set up a dramatic scenario in the game, but high flying Forest hanged on to claim another win in what has been a fantastic season so far for the Nuno Espirito Santo led side.

After the game, Juric reserved special words for Onuachu, whose goal happened to be his first for the club two year after he joined them from Belgium side Genk.

“There are some players that I like, they have some quality and he has this quality. He’s tough, he’s a fighter, he’s tall with the ability to head,” Juric told the Daily Echo.

“He’s very good and he will give everything he can. I think he will be very good for us. I’m very happy for him that he scored today.”

His return to form is coming at a time when the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle is settling down to business ahead of the world cup qualifiers games in March against Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively.

Onuachu last appearance for the Super Eagles came in the 1-2 defeat to Benin Republic in the world cup qualifiers in June 2024. He wasn’t in the squad for the entire games in the AFCON 2025 qualifiers.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Coach of Liverpool Arne Slot has received plaudits for the way his team have performed this season going into the final 16 games of the ongoing English Premier League, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Slot’s team are presently top of the table six points clear of second place Arsenal despite playing a game less. The way the team has performed under the Dutchman who was only appointed at the start of the season has been the major discussion for most of the season.

They were doubts about his credentials when he replaced Jurgen Klopp, but those doubts have quickly eroded. His abilities as a coach transcends beyond tactics, formation and methods, but also smart and efficient man management.

This was made known by Nigeria international striker Cyriel Dessers, who worked under the coach while at Feyenoord and detailed how a piece of advice from the 46 year old brought about a turnaround in his career.

Dessers who stole the attention in the Scootish Cup with a hattrick yesterday in Rangers’s 5-0 win over Fraserburgh recalled: “When I was at Feyenoord, there was a match Arne Slot started with Bryan Linssen instead of me against Heerenveen.

“I was so disappointed. I came on ten minutes before the end. It was freezing cold, the match was already over, nobody really wanted to go forward. I came on with a really poor attitude because I was so disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to start.

“After the match, Slot sat next to me on the bus.

“I’ve had managers who got angry in such a situation. But he actually said in a very normal and calm way that he understood how I felt.

“He also explained why he had made his choice. I apologised, he said again that he could imagine my emotions.

“I walked back to the back of that bus and felt like it was out of my system.

“I still think back to that one conversation sometimes.

“There, Arne proved to me that he is not only a good manager, but also a good person.

“I sometimes miss that empathy in football with the media, with the fans too, who sometimes forget that a player is only human.

“The world of football is hard, sometimes unreasonable. So it’s worth its weight in gold if you have a manager who treats you normally, honestly and with understanding.”

Ade Emmanuel

The newly appointed coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has hit the ground running with plans in place for the world cup qualifiers games in March, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle will have his first baptism of fire as coach of the Nigerian team in the world cup qualifiers games away to Rwanda and at home to Zimbabwe receptively. Both games are key to the chances of Nigeria making it to the 2026 world cup.

Super Eagles are currently 5th in their 6 team group, but Chelle who has knowledge of African football with his two year stint as coach of Mali is not fazed by the task ahead of him, he said he already has the game plan his team will use and it will bring an end to doubts about his abilities upon his appointment.

“We play football; it’s normal that there is pressure. It’s normal that there is criticism. Today, I will work; I have certainties; I have my game plan in mind, and I will quickly put it in place.

“Now, my results and the team’s results will speak for me. So, we can say what we want, but, at the time we speak, the coach of the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, his name is Eric Chelle.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman