One of the most sought after players in the French Ligue 1 is Nigeria international winger Moses Simon owing to the fact that he has a year to go on his deal at fellow Ligue 1 side Nantes.

Simon who is also courting interest teams outside France has made it known to his representative that he wants to remain in the Ligue 1 for family reasons, meaning he is only open to deals from teams in Ligue 1.

Nantes risk losing him for free after he refused their offer of an extension proposed to him at the start of the year. His refusal has forced the club into listening to offers for his services unlike previous seasons, when he was tagged as touch not.

A fee in the region of around €5m will be okay to tempt Nantes into selling the 27 year old and it has alerted the duo of Nice and Lille. Both teams have already held preliminary talks with the camp of the vice captain of the senior national team of Nigeria.

Per what OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered, Simon who isn’t ruling out a move to Nice will however prefer a move to Lille due to the proximity of the city to Belgium, where his family resides. His wife and two daughters live in Ghent, around an hour from the city of Lille.

A decision will be made after the senior national team of Nigeria Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone on Saturday. Simon is presently in the camp of the team gearing up for the game.

Daniel Martins

Nigeria international winger Samuel Chukwueze has agreed to join Italian Serie A side AC Milan on a five year deal from Spanish LaLiga side Villarreal, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chukwueze has a year to go on his deal at the Spanish side and with no renewal in sight he has been allowed to leave this summer, with the club keen on getting a fee for him rather than lose him for free next summer.

His agent met with the entourage of AC Milan and a deal was struck with the Nigerian agreeing to the terms proposed to him by the Serie A side. His wages will be around six times what he currently earns at the Spanish side.

Following his acceptance of their terms, Milan made a €15m bid to Villarreal but it was rejected. The feeling is that the Spanish side are holding out for a fee in the region of €30m and an improved offer will be made in the coming days.

Last season was the most productive for the Nigerian as he ended it with 13 goals and 11 assists. A feat which earned him the title of the best African player in the Spanish LaLIga for last season.

He is presently in the camp of the Nigerian team preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Monrovia on Saturday.

Daniel Martins

With activities in the summer transfer window set to hot up, so many Nigerian players are expected to be in the mix especially those with uncertain future and those who want to try new environment.

One player who has already made up his mind over his exit is Olakunle Olusegun of Russian side Krasnodar. The former Nigeria U17 star has already announced his exit from the Russian side that he has represented the past two years.

In a message on his social media handle, the 21 year old thanked the team for giving him the platform to launch his career in Europe, and allowing him to get the move as agreed, when he decided to stay rather than suspend his contract in light of the war in Russia.

He is now expected to join French Ligue 1 side Lens on what we heard will be a four years deal with the option of an extra year. Krasnodar have already given their blessings to his departure hence agreeing a fee won’t be an issue to all involved.

Daniel Martins

The senior national team of Nigeria yesterday had their first full training session ahead of Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria will head into the game with a win at the back of their mind as it will guarantee them qualification for the tournament next year. They will be confident owing to the fact that it will be played in the Liberian city of Monrovia, the adopted home ground of the national team of Sierra Leone.

Ahead of the game coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro isn’t taking anything to chance and yesterday’s session was at a higher level than the previous day drills. It was heavy from the warm up down to when they were shared into two groups for a test game.

Napoli hitman Victor Osimhen who will lead the line against Liberia is already getting used to who he will pair in the attack of the team under the 4-4-2 system of the Portuguese coach of the team.

For now Taiwo Awoniyi who has impressed with his sharpness in training so far is the obvious candidate to get the nod and yesterday, he played in the same team with Osimhen linking perfectly with the Napoli man.

They look like the pair who will lead Nigeria’s assault for goals in Monrovia on Saturday barring a last minute change of plans by the coach.

Osas Mahawi

The senior national team of Nigeria started training ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Monrovia on Saturday.

Yesterday at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena a total of 19 players took part in the session with the duo of Divine Nwachukwu and Ebube Duru giving time off to recover after their participation in the NPFL playoff.

In view of the fact that the game will be played on a synthetic surface in Monrovia, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) picked the stadium at Onikan as training ground for the team to give them a feel of what it feels like to play on a surface like that.

That idea as smart as it is has come with a consequence for the players who are struggling to cope especially on the first day of training. As many as three of them lament the quality of the synthetic surface saying it is not at the same level with other pitches of the same made.

One of the players said the pitch is uneven in some spaces making players to struggle to keep their feet. He also said the quality of the material used is probably not at the level of the one they will face in Monrovia.

Training will continue today with the players hopefully used to the surface and more of the invited players notably top striker Victor Osimhen will take part in today’s session, which will be more tactical than that of yesterday.

Damian Waziri

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has explained why he celebrated with a Nigerian flag around his waist after helping his team lift the UEFA Champions League title for the first time.

Akanji played the entire duration of his team’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the summer. He started the move that led to the only goal of the game scored by Rodri. So far he has been one of the bargain signings of the Etihad outfit.

Signed for a fee of around £12m from Borrusia Dortmund, he was supposed to play the role of a back up defender to the regulars, but he took his chance and stamped his feet in the starting lineup with his versatility across the back four also a factor.

A full fledged Switzerland senior international with 49 caps, the 27 year old showed he hasn’t forgotten his Nigerian roots when he picked up a Nigerian flag thrown at him from the crowd in Istanbul while celebrating his team’s win.

He wrapped it around his waist alongside that of Switzerland, a move which he said he did to prove how attached he is to his Nigerian roots ” I feel so Nigerian. I have to do this”, he screamed at the cameras with the Nigerian flag around his waist.

Osas Mahawi

The senior national team of Nigeria started preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Monrovia yesterday with their first training session at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.

Head coach of the team Jose Peseiro had 21 out of the 23 players called up in training but the duo of Divine Nwachukwu and Ebube Duru were giving time out to recover after their participation in the NPFL playoff.

Aside the duo, Victor Osimhen and Bright Osayi-Samuel are the other two players yet to join the camp of the team ahead of the game. Camp sources confirmed that they will likely be around for today’s session.

Meanwhile none of the Nigerian assistants of the Portuguese coach is in the camp of the team as at the time of this report. Peseiro has four Nigerian assistants in Salisu Yusuf, Finidi George, Usman Abdallah and Ike Shorunmu who has quit his role over what he term as unfavourable working conditions.

When OwngoalNigeria.com broke the news of the axing of the Nigerian assistants attached to the senior national, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said they were being rotated as part of the cost cutting measures of the football house.

Maybe that is the reason why there is no Nigerian assistants in the camp aside the goalkeeper trainer Abideen Baruwa, who was drafted in from the U20 as replacement for Ike Shorunmu.

Baruwa took the goalkeepers on drills while the other foreign assistants of Peseiro handled other aspects of the session with the head coach supervising what was a light session. The real hard work begins today.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The senior national team of Nigeria had their first training session ahead of Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Monrovia.

19 players took part in the session which was supervised by head coach of the team Jose Peseiro and his assistants. The Nigeria Professional Football League duo of Ebube Duru and Divine Nwachukwu were made to rest by the coach following their participation in the NPFL playoff.

Nwachukwu was ever present for Insurance of Benin, the same as Duru for Rivers United meaning they played a total of five games in between a space of nine days.

Meanwhile, all but the duo of Victor Osimhen and Bright Osayi-Samuel have arrived the camp of the team with the Turkey based Osayi-Samuel expected to arrive tomorrow after helping his team Fenerbahce win the Turkish cup.

No reason was given for the absence of top striker Victor Osimhen but camp sources say he will likely be with the team later today or tomorrow morning just in time before their afternoon session at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has revealed the reason why he dropped the trio of Chuba Akpom, Victor Boniface and Gift Orban in his squad of players for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone.

The coach omitted the trio where among the top  scoring players for Nigeria in the recently concluded season with Akpom scoring 28 goals in the English Championship for Middlesbrough, while the duo of Orban and Boniface scored 20 and 22 goals respectively. Orban in particular got all of his goals within a period of four months following his move to Belgium side Gent from second division Norwegian side Stabæk.

Explaining their omission, Peseiro confirmed what OwnGoalNigeria.comearlier wrote about their absence in the squad saying it’s because of the policy of the NFF on inviting not more than 20 foreign based players to the team. In this case he had to make do with 19 players.

He said the above explanation hold forte for the duo of Orban and Boniface but Akpom just like we reported isn’t eligible due to the expiration of his Nigerian passport.

Speaking on the two Belgium based players he said he visited them and assured them of a spot in his team but because of the financial issues of the NFF, he didn’t include them. A situation which he said he has to understand with the football house.

“I visit them. I was in England, I was in Spain, I was in Italy. I visited them from my pocket. For that I will like to call them but if I call them, I will have to drop some of these players like you know I can only call 19 foreign based players. I believe in the local players but our federation (NFF) is not in a good financial situation for that, so because of that I can only call 19 players from outside Nigeria”, he explained after today’s training.

Speaking further, he assured them that they will be part of his subsequent squads especially if they maintain their current club form before the next round of games. He also took out time to explain the invitation of captain of the team Ahmed Musa who hasn’t seen lot of action for Turkish side Sivasspor.

Musa according to Peseiro is a winger while the aforementioned duo are strikers. He said including them ahead of Musa will mean taking five strikers to Monrovia for the game against Sierra Leone. A game which he said he stuck with the 19 players who have been in his team since he took over a year ago.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

When the list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria by coach Jose Peseiro for the AFCON qualifiers game against Sierra Leone was made public, three names were conspicuously missing from the list of players.

The trio of Gift Orban of Belgium side Gent, Victor Boniface of Union Saint-Gilloise another Belgium team and that of Terem Moffi who plays Ligue 1 were all not listed in the 23 man squad, much to the surprise of a lot of people.

Last season, they combined for a total of 63 goals with Orban hitting 20 for Gent, the team he joined in January, Boniface had 22 goals while Moffi ended the season with a combined total of 21 goals both of Lorient and Nice, the team he joined in January.

Peseiro was left handicapped by the new policy of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which is that only twenty foreign based players should be called up for any game with the remaining coming from the local scene.

The idea was to save cost due to the rising cost of air tickets but with the players on holiday and most of them in Nigeria, the coach went ahead to list more than the required number of foreign based players and submitted to the NFF explaining why.

His explanation fell on deaf ears and he was asked to stick to the instruction of just twenty foreign based players leaving him with no option but to take out the trio of Orban, Boniface and Moffi.

While the duo of Boniface and Orban were sacrificed for other senior players considering the fact that a win is needed badly by the team and experience will be crucial, Moffi was dropped in order to create space for Awoniyi who ended the season on a high for Nottingham Forest.

Osas Mahawi