Talks for 61 year old Swede Janne Andersson to be the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria has suffered a setback after his refusal to certain conditions in the proposed contract, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Andersson has been in talks with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after he was picked as the preferred choice to replace Finidi George, who left his role six weeks ago following a poor performance in the 2026 world cup qualifiers.

The team will return to action with the AFCON qualifiers on the 7th of September against Benin Republic before taking on Rwanda three days later away from home, the NFF was hoping to have a coach before that time.

That is highly unlikely following breakdown in talks with the coach, who was in charge of Sweden for seven years before leaving his role after failing to guide them to the 2022 world cup and the recently concluded European championship.

We gathered that he rejected some conditions in the deal proposed by the NFF. Some sources in Sweden reported that talks have been called off by his representative on the orders of the ccoach whom they say have lost interest in the role.

A highly placed board member of the NFF confirmed the latest development, but say there is no cause for alarm as they are hopeful that talks will resume to iron out their differences, however if a compromise isn’t reached then they will switch to the other options on the table.

The list of players who will represent the senior national team of Nigeria in their upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively is expected to be made public next week, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Super Eagles will begin the quest to be at the 2025 AFCON with a game at home against Benin Republic on the 7th of September before travelling to keep a date with Rwanda three days later for their second game of the series.

Preliminary invitation was sent to 35 players for the game by the technical department of the NFF, and it is expected to be trimmed to 25 by the incoming coach of the team Janne Andersson and made public next week.

We can exclusively confirmed that Uche Chrisantus who announced himself with a bang for Getafe with a goal in their 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao in his first game for the team, and also in the Spanish top flight didn’t get an invitation.

Uche we gathered will be monitored for subsequent invitation if he continues his fine form for Getafe, the team he joined towards the end of last season from third division Spanish side Cueta.

Sources also confirmed that Bayer Leverkusen winger Nathan Tella is back in the squad after excusing himself from the last squad that played in the world cup qualifiers games against South Africa and Benin Republic respectively.

Italian Serie A side Udinese have sealed the future of Nigeria international goalkeeper Maduka Okoye for the next four years after his decision to sign an extension to his deal at the club, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Okoye who has risen to the role of first choice of the club since the second half of last season, following his transfer from Watford during last summer’s transfer window has been rumoured to be on the radar of league champions Inter Milan.

At the weekend he once again proved why he is so highly rated with another top class performance topped, with two good saves in the closing stages of the game to help them see out a 1-1 draw away to Bologna in their first game of the season.

Earlier today Udinese announced that they have secured his services till the summer of 2028 ending all doubts around his continuity at the club beyond the end of this season.

“Together again, and for longer. Maduka Okoye has renewed his contract with Udinese Calcio, which means the Nigerian goalkeeper will be tied to the club until 30 June 2028”, a statement on the club’s website reads.

“Maduka, who arrived in Friuli in summer 2023, played a central role over last season and consistently showed his high standards, making him one of the best performing goalkeepers in the league. Through renewing his contract, both Okoye and the club have shown their desire to continue this journey together with even more enthusiasm and ambition”.

Janne Andersson is expected to take over as the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their first set of games in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Andersson will however not be on the touchline when the team plays in September due to a running media contract, which is due to expire by the end of next month making him eligible to be in the dugout for the Super Eagles in subsequent games in October and November respectively.

The coach who spent seven years as the coach of Sweden notably leading them to the quarter final of the 2018 world cup was caught up in a players row with the country’s most decorated and celebrated star Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2021.

Ibrahimovic described the omission of Dejan Kulusevski from the Sweden starting line-up to play France in September that year as “an absolute joke. “More proof that incompetent people in the wrong positions are suffocating Swedish football,” continued Ibrahimovic via Twitter.

It could only be interpreted as a stinging criticism of Andersson, the then Sweden coach. And yet, within weeks of those words, the pair were in discussions to end the striker’s five years international exile, with the coach demonstrating his ability to manage dispute, something he will likely face when he takes over as coach of Nigeria.

“You have to do that if there is a player like Zlatan. My job is to get results and if there is a player who is good enough to be in the team then, of course, I have to investigate and talk to him. I have to try to find a way that we can work together”, he explained why defending his decision to bring back the giant striker.

Pressed on how he sets up his team, the coach in that same interview said as much as he wants his team to attack, there is still the need to find a balance between doing that and defending.

“We will be hard, compact and difficult to score goals against. We need to have more possession, we need to attack, but we also need to be strong defensively and not lose.

“If you go back to the World Cup, we were really strong on the defence and then we could score on the counter-attack. Now we are able to have more possession than we used to have but we still have to find the right balance to get the best results.”

It means fans of the Super Eagles should expect a team that will be tough to beat and not necessarily flamboyant in their style, but good enough to get the much needed results.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Ebenezer Akinsamiro made his debut for Italian Serie B side Sampdoria over the weekend as they begin the quest to gain promotion back to the Italian Serie A following relegation two seasons ago, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Sampdoria were relegated from Serie A for the first time in over a decade following a 2-0 defeat at Udinese in May 2023 with four games left to play, their aim to make an immediate return to the top flight was unsuccessful last season.

Now under the tutelage of legendary Italian midfielder Andrea Prilo, they started their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Frosinone on Sunday, despite playing with a man down for the final eight minutes of the game, following the sending off of Nicholas Ioannou.

19 year old Nigerian midfielder Akinsamiro who joined the team on loan from league champions Inter Milan lasted 84 minutes in what was the first start of his professional career.

He put up a performance which drew him praises and knocks from Pirlo , a legendary midfielder in world football who was rated among the best in his role during his playing days. ” The team as a whole did what it was supposed to do, uncertainties are part of the game and we have to limit them”, he said after the game.

” Akinsanmiro has qualities, but sometimes he likes to hold the ball too much and you have to file this detail. If you hold the ball too much with structure players in Serie B, you can’t afford it”, the coach concluded.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have proposed three options to the incoming coach of the Super Eagles Janne Andersson to consider as part of his backroom staff, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

Andersson is expected to take over as head coach the September international round of games owing to his deal with a media outfit, which is expected to expire by the end of next month meaning he will be free to take charge of the team in the October and November games.

He has picked two of his assistants to work with the technical director of the NFF Austine Eguavoen for the AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively in September.

However the NFF are also proposing the idea of the coach having the duo or one of either Ladan Bosso or title winning coach with Enugu Rangers Fidelis Ilechukwu as one of his assistants, when he resumes fully.

We gathered they are proposing the duo to the coach because they will be involved in the next U23 team and want them to be around the senior national team before the start of the qualifiers for the next Olympic games.

Bosso the immediate past coach of the Nigeria U20 team is highly rated and favored within the corridors of the NFF, and the present coach of Bayelsa United was even approached to continue in his role as U20 coach but he declined.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Despite pleas by the CEO and coach of Atalanta Ademola Lookman is sticking to his decision to leave the club for French Ligue 1 giants PSG, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lookman handed in a transfer request following an agreement with PSG and he was subsequently left out of the team that started the new Serie A season on a high with a 4-0 thrashing of Lecce yesterday.

Prior to the game CEO Luca Percassi “We are very relaxed because our idea, shared by coach, club and owners, was for the first time in our history not to let these important players go. We as a club have always respected our commitments and we cannot wait for this transfer window to close, as it reserved a few ugly surprises too, like Gianluca Scamacca’s injury.

“All players belong to Atalanta and the club will decide what to do for the good of this team.”

After the game yesterday head coach Gian Piero Gasperini voiced his dissatisfaction with the uncertainty surrounding the future of the 26 year old Nigerian, who fired the team to Europa League glory with a hattrick in the 3-0 final win over Bayer Leverkusen.

“In all honesty, nobody expected to find ourselves in this situation. At this moment, I am having to take it one day at a time. I had a few thoughts after the Super Cup, but then we ran into all these difficulties, including Scamacca’s injury.

“I don’t know what will happen over the remaining 10 days of the transfer window. My job is to assemble the best squad possible, to see with the club what could be useful to add.

“Clearly, we’ll not have a defined squad until August 31″, he concluded.

Despite their plea for understanding Lookman from what we gathered is adamant that he wants to join PSG and has already started house hunting in the city. He sees the opportunity as a chance to have a crack with a top team considering the fact that he is nearing his peak years, and coming off what was his best season.

He feels such opportunity won’t come twice and wants to make the best of the one he had now. Hence his representative have pleaded with the Italian side to lower their demand of €40m.

Daniel Martins

The head coach of Atalanta Gian Piero Gasperini has pleaded with Nigeria international forward Ademola Lookman to shun a move to French Ligue 1 giants PSG, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lookman handed in a transfer request after reaching agreement on personal terms with PSG on a move, it led to his exclusion from the team that started their Serie A campaign yesterday with a resounding 4-0 win over Lecce.

Speaking on the Europa League final hero Gasperini lamented the fact that he wants to keep the 26 year old, and had no idea that he will be determined to leave the club with just ten days to the close of the transfer window, he pleaded with the Nigerian to have a change of heart.

“In all honesty, nobody expected to find ourselves in this situation. At this moment, I am having to take it one day at a time. I had a few thoughts after the Super Cup, but then we ran into all these difficulties, including Scamacca’s injury.

“I don’t know what will happen over the remaining 10 days of the transfer window. My job is to assemble the best squad possible, to see with the club what could be useful to add.

“Clearly, we’ll not have a defined squad until August 31″, he concluded.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The incoming coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Janne Andersson has agreed for the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Austine Eguavoen to handle the upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

As first called by ScoreNigeria, the 61 year old who handled the national team of Sweden for seven years has agreed to a deal to become the new coach of the Nigerian team replacing Finidi George, who was let go after the poor results in the world cup qualifiers around six weeks ago.

However there will be a little bit of delay in him taking over the team for the September AFCON qualifiers due to his current deal with a media company in Sweden, which won’t expire till the end of September.

The coach has now reached an agreement for Eguavoen to stand in for him in interim capacity alongside two of his assistants for the games, after which he will return to the dug out for the October and November games.

His presentation will also be delayed until then, however just like we reported he will have the final say in the list of players for the games, even though he wasn’t at the helm when invitations were sent out to players.

Barring a late change of mind, the revised list of 25 players will be made public by the NFF next week with an announcement of Eguavoen as the interim coach for the games, the duo of Ladan Bosso and title winning coach Fidelis Ilechukwu are also under consideration for a backroom role as one of the assistants for the games.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The senior national team of Nigeria will be without two key players when they begin their 2025 AFCON qualifiers campaign with games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

They will host Benin Republic on the 7th of September before travelling to Rwanda three days later for their second game in the quest to reach the next edition of the AFCON, after finishing as runners up early this year in Cote d’Ivoire.

Nigeria were beaten 1-2 by the host in the final in February, and ahead of the upcoming games two players who were part of the squad that lost the final won’t be available for new coach Janne Andersson.

Fresh from the news of Terem Moffi suffering an ACL injury which will keep him out for the rest of the season, full back Ola Aina went off injured for Nottingham Forest in their opening day fixture in the English Premier League against Bournemouth.

Aina was subbed off due to a suspected calf injury, which will likely keep him out for the next three weeks according to sources associated with the club.