The B team of Spanish LaLiga side Villarreal have completed the signing of 21 year old Nigerian defender Udom Ekerette on a short term deal, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

He will be with the B team who were relegated to the 3rd division last season from where his progress will be monitored for a possible promotion to the first team, which will trigger a new deal for him at the club.

Udom is well known around the Nigerian league circle making his way up from second division side Vandrezzer, before he was snapped up by top division side Sunshine Stars.

Standing at an impressive height of almost 2 meters he played all of the games of Sunshine Stars in 2022 leading to a call up to the U-20 team of Nigeria, but he didn’t make the squad for all three tournaments the team played which is the WAFU tournament, the U20 AFCON and the U20 World Cup.

As at 2023 he joined Iraqi side Al Najaf for an undisclosed fee , and till date the team still remains his last side before moving to Villarreal, although it’s unclear if he was signed from there.

Nicholas Jackson has fired back at the former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel after his first goal of the season for Chelsea in their 6-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Mikel has lashed out at the forward after Chelsea’s first game of the season against Manchester City terming him as a poor finisher.

“And just an example of how Jackson finishes. You can see there, even though he was offside, he dribbles [past] one or two or three players and the way he shoots the ball”, he said while doing pundit duty of the team’s 0-2 loss to Man City.

Jackson responded with a goal after 98 seconds today. After the game he took to social media platform Instagram to fire one back at the former Blues fans favourite, who spent ten and half seasons at Stamford Bridge.

Alongside a post about his goal, Jackson wrote: “@Mikel_john_obi shut your mouth. “Don’t talk s***, we are killing ourselves for Africa.”

The search for a new coach for the senior national team of Nigeria has taken an unexpected turn in recent days with the two main contenders not interested in taking the job, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria will head into the AFCON 2025 qualifiers with Austine Eguavoen as interim coach, following the inability of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to appoint a replacement for Finidi George, who left his role two months ago.

A week ago the NFF settled for the former coach of Sweden Janne Andersson as the man for the job, and immediately started talks over handing him a deal just in time before the game against Benin Republic on the 7th of September and Rwanda three days later.

Those plans are up in smoke like we exclusively reported with the 61 year old turning down the offer due to some terms in the proposed contract, it made the NFF to switch their attention back to Herve Renard who recently left his role as coach of the women team of France.

Just like Andersson he has also rejected the offer leaving the NFF with no choice but to return back to Andersson, making the coach to grant an interview two days ago saying talks are still ongoing.

However recent reports from sources say the deal is almost dead, and the NFF might be forced to go back and make a pick from one of the two of Tom Saintfeit and Eric Chelle who were the initial front runners for the job.

This lastest development is coming on the back of an approval by the federal government of Nigeria to pay the salary of the new coach. NFF also secured a deal with a private company to help in the same regard.

All decision and talks about a new coach have been suspended till after the games in September, which as we exclusively reported will be handled by the technical director of the NFF Eguavoen alongside other Nigerian assistants which will likely include Ladan Bosso, Samson Siasia and Fidelis Ilechukwu.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has sounded a note of warning to English Premier League side Arsenal who are linked with a move for one of the two of Super Eagles duo Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Corriere dello sport reports that the Gunners are monitoring the situation of Lookman at Atalanta owing to his decision to hand in a transfer request following interest from PSG, however the Ligue 1 side are yet to follow up on their interest on the Europa League hero.

Arsenal are set to be keeping tabs on the situation of the 26 year old Nigerian whose hattrick handed Atalanta their first European trophy with a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Osimhen on the other hand is said to be of interest to Arsenal according to the Italian media as he is seen as upgrade on Eddie Nketiah who is expected to leave the team for Nottingham Forest in the coming days.

Peseiro who coached both players during his 22 months spell as coach of the senior national team of Nigeria has pointed out the main difference in the duo, who were part of his team that finished second at the AFCON after losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the tournament.

“Ademola is more technical than Osimhen, more inclined to create the game, and who is now also scoring. He is performing very well this year,” Peseiro told SportItalia. “He grew up with (Atalanta manager) Gian Piero Gasperini, now he is always playing, and we are happy with him. high level, he too can aspire to do great things.”

He added: “It’s no coincidence that they’ve both grown this year. This is because they’re both within a good system of play. Atalanta and Napoli want the ball, they want to play and attack. In these conditions, players get excited like this. Italian football has changed a lot in the last few years.”

As first called by ScoreNigeria 61 year old Swede coach Janne Andersson has confirmed that he is in talks with the Nigeria Football Federation to take over as coach of the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Andersson, 61, is a strong candidate to take over as Nigeria’s national team coach replacing Finidi George, who left his role as coach two months ago after a disappointing performance in the world cup qualifiers games against South Africa and Benin Republic respectively.

“I can confirm that I have had a dialogue with the Nigerian Football Federation,” he told *Expressen*.

The coach who handled Sweden for seven years has been without a coaching job since he left the Swedish national team last November. He is now reportedly the favourite for the Nigerian job, although two times AFCON winner Herve Renard is also in the mix.

Whatever happens, the coach said he is happy to be considered for the role because of the reputation of Nigeria in the world of football.

“I can confirm that I have had a dialogue with the Nigerian Football Federation. Nigeria is a huge football nation, so I am incredibly flattered to be considered for the role of their next national coach. Discussions are ongoing, and I don’t want to say much more than that,” he said, adding:

“I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that things can happen in different ways. So we’ll see what happens moving forward. Nothing is finalized at this point. We’ll see.”

Despite his excitement reports of a running contract with a media firm means he won’t be available for Nigeria till the end of September, meaning he won’t be on the dugout against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively if he eventually gets the job, he remained coy on the situation.

” There’s no connection. It was never planned to happen now. I’m very flattered by the contact, and we’ll see where it leads. The trip itself doesn’t prevent me from taking on the role,” Andersson said.

On if he will be available to take up the Super Eagles role while on vacation in the Atlantic the coach said he will rather leave his options open until he is contacted. “We’ll see, haha. It will work out”.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

As the wait for the final 25 man list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for the 2025; AFCON qualifiers lingers, OwnGoalNigeria.com can reveal that there is a return for some players.

As we exclusively reported two weeks ago, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) via it’s technical department sent out provisional invitation to 35 players for the upcoming games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively in the month of September.

The list will be pruned down to 25 names who will be at the camp of the team in Uyo for the first game on the 7th of September and subsequently travel to Rwanda for the second game three days later.

Sources reveal to our editorial team that Orlando Pirates defender Olisa Ndah is back in the team as he was among the players, who received preliminary invitation for the game.

26 year old Ndah last played for the Super Eagles at the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in 2022. Since then he hasn’t been included in any squad, we gathered his inclusion could come at the expense of Benjamin Tanimu who found favour in the eyes of erstwhile coach Finidi George.

Barring a last minute change of mind Samson Siasia who recently returned from a ban from football will be part of the interim setup of the senior national team of Nigeria for the AFCON 2025 qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Siasia was banned from coaching for five years on allegations of match fixing. He completed the ban six days ago and he is now free to return to his role on the dugout.

Talks have been held on having him in the interim setup of the senior national team of Nigeria for the AFCON qualifiers, as the NFF continue the search of a new substantive coach for the senior national team of Nigeria.

The technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Austine Eguavoen will lead the team for both games , with Siasia among the coaches that will assist him in the new setup for just the two games.

His case is being pushed by the camp of the minister for sports senator John Enoh, who will be key in approving the interim coaches for the games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively.

The technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Austine Eguavoen will take charge of the Super Eagles as interim coach for the upcoming AFCON 2025 qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

NFF is yet to settle on a replacement for Finidi George who left his role almost two months ago owing to poor results in the world cup qualifiers. Plans to name a replacement before the games didn’t see the light of the day.

Talks with two leading contenders in Janne Andersson and Herve Renard will continue with the hope that a favourable conclusion will be reached, before the next round of international games in October.

Already 35 players were given preliminary letters of invitation to be part of the team for the game, with the number expected to be significantly reduced to 25 ahead of both games, and Eguavoen has been tasked with the job of doing it.

He is expected to drop ten players from the team and submit the list to the NFF to make public by Monday, however players in the final list have been contacted already.

With the president of the NFF Ibrahim Musa Gusau and the secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi away with the Nigeria women U20 team in Colombia for the world cup, approving the list will likely be delayed for some days.

Ajax secured a huge 4-1 away win over Polish side Jagiellonia Białystok in the final knock out phase of the Europa League putting themselves in pole position for the group stage ahead of the return leg next week, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chuba Akpom put aside speculations about his future, and stole the show with a hattrick at the Białystok City Stadium. He went home with the match ball with goals in the 9th, 61st and 69th minute.

His last goal which came from the spot took his goal count since his move to Ajax from Middlesbrough during last summer transfer window to 18 in 43 games in all competitions, despite a slow start to life at the club.

The 28 year old who was voted the English Championship player for the year before his move to the Dutch side is still waiting for his first invitation to the senior national team of Nigeria, after switching allegiance from England almost four year ago.

He will be the hoping that whoever takes over as coach of the team following the departure of Finidi George will look his way after being snubbed by the former substantive coach of the team Jose Peseiro, who mentioned him several times for a possible call up.

All was set for the former coach of Sweden Janne Andersson to take over as the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their upcoming AFCON 2025 qualifiers in September, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Andersson was picked as the preferred option to replace Finidi George who left his role as coach of the team after a poor performance in the world cup qualifiers almost two months ago , but talks with the 61 year old suffered a huge setback.

Aside the fact that he won’t be able to resume immediately due to a media contract due to expire in September, the coach who was already making plans for two of his trusted assistants to work with the technical director Austine Eguavoen had other issues with the terms of the contract.

We exclusively gathered that coach who handled Sweden for seven years wanted clarity on certain aspects of the agreement to be coach of the Super Eagles, which didn’t come as expected hence his decision to pause talks.

Our source didn’t reveal the areas of concerns but said the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are studying his worry over some grey areas , and will likely amend them in order to bring the discussion back to where it was before the impasse.

However time is against both parties with the AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively around the corner, leaving the NFF with no choice than to hand the team to Eguavoen on interim capacity for both games.