Arsenal and England sensation Bukayo Saka has revealed that he was very close to playing for Nigeria ahead of England as he get set to round up his visit to Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Saka is presently in Lagos as part of his holidays following the end of the season in England, he has been soaking in the moment in Nigeria’s commercial capital and has also visited lot of orphanages to give support.

In one of the orphanages he visited, the 21 year old was asked by a staff of the organization why he decided to pick the English national team ahead of the senior national team of Nigeria.

” I will tell you this. I was very close to playing for one of the youth teams in 2019. It was the wish of my father but things happen and you have to live with your decisions. I feel very much Nigerian and nothing can change that”, he said.

Our contact also revealed he is likely to meet with the newly sworn in president of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Abuja before the end of his holiday in Nigeria.

” A visit to the president is on their list but I don’t know if it will be possible. He looks quite a lovely lad and shy. At the orphanage we couldn’t believe who was next to us. So humble and down to earth”, another staff of the orphanage told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Osas Mahawi

Victor Osimhen has been rewarded for his excellent season for Italian Serie A side Napoli with the award of the best striker in the league after helping his team to the league title, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen is also on course to pick up the award for the top scorer in the league after hitting 25 goals in 31 games. His goals have been instrumental to his team’s title win, which is their first in 33 years.

The 24 year old was also in the running for the award of the best player in the league but his teammate Kvicha Kvaratskhelia was handed the award. Osimhen’s feat that hasn’t gone unnoticed by top teams around Europe making Napoli to place a fee of €150m as his buyout clause.

He is also on course to be named the best player at the CAF awards and if he wins, it will be the first time a Nigerian has won the award since Kanu Nwankwo won it in 2000. His case is helped by the fact that few African players have had the type of season he had with Napoli.

However, the failure of Nigeria to make it to the World Cup might affect his chances of clinching the award, but his closest challenger Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City was also not at the World Cup with Algeria and he it can’t be said that he has had the same impact like Osimhen at club level.

Osas Mahawi

Victor Osimhen has been rewarded for his excellent season for Italian Serie A side Napoli with the award of the best striker in the league after helping his team to the league title, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen is also on course to pick up the award for the top scorer in the league after hitting 25 goals in 31 games. His goals have been instrumental to his team’s title win, which is their first in 33 years.

The 24 year old was also in the running for the award of the best player in the league but his teammate Kvicha Kvaratskhelia was handed the award. Osimhen’s feat that hasn’t gone unnoticed by top teams around Europe making Napoli to place a fee of €150m as his buyout clause.

He is also on course to be named the best player at the CAF awards and if he wins, it will be the first time a Nigerian has won the award since Kanu Nwankwo won it in 2000. His case is helped by the fact that few African players have had the type of season he had with Napoli.

However, the failure of Nigeria to make it to the World Cup might affect his chances of clinching the award, but his closest challenger Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City was also not at the World Cup with Algeria and he it can’t be said that he has had the same impact like Osimhen at club level.

Osas Mahawi

The performance of Nigeria at the ongoing U20 World Cup in Argentina has been hailed as one of the finest run the team has had in the tournament in a very long while, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

It is the first time since 2005 that Nigeria have made it to the quarter final of the tournament and praises have gone the way of coach of the team Ladan Bosso, who is in his second spell as coach of the team.

Bosso was at the helm in 2007 when Nigeria lost out in the round of 16 to Chile. He was also the man in charge in 2009 but was harshly dismissed for coach Samson Siasia despite meeting the target of qualifying for the World Cup by placing third at the AFCON.

His appointment to the same position raised eyebrows especially after the failure of his team to make it to the U20 Africa Cup of Nations two years ago. They bounced back to win the same tournament last year and also finished third at the U20 Cup of Nations to book a place at the world cup.

Despite a fairly good run at the AFCON, they were calls from certain section of the Nigerian media for the Niger state born coach to be sacked before the World Cup. He was retained by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and so far his team have exceeded all expectations by making it to the quarter final with wins over Italy and host Argentina the peak of their performance so far.

Reacting to the criticism suffered by the coach Daniel Joshua who was a part of the Yemi Tella led U17 team that were promoted to the U20 and worked with Bosso for a while, before accident ended his career on his way to the camp of the team for the AFCON in 2009 has given his views on the coach.

” I was watching a show on cable television and the stuff they were saying about his person, career and also tactical abilities were all not pleasant. They were so harsh on him and you really can’t blame them because they don’t truly know him like some of us”, Joshua told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” Bosso can easily pass as one of the best tacticians in Nigerian football. I can say so because we worked together for two years. His style is every game has it’s kind of approach, players and tactics. Even inside games he can switch it. The criticism about him were not fair but I believe now they can see for themselves”, he said.

Damian Waziri

Fresh from scoring 11 goals for Banik Ostrava former Nigeria U20forward Tijani Muhamed has sealed a transfer to fellow Czech Republic side Slavia Praque, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

Several reports in Czech Republic has it that the move to the league giants is good as done with the fee reported to be in the region of a little over €1m. The deal is similar to that of his fellow Nigeria U20 teammate Yira Sor who joined the team from the same Banik Ostrava.

Again like that of Sor which saw Banik earn a percentage of the transfer fee when he left Slavia for Genk of Belgium, the modest team also hold a percentage of his future sale in the event of a transfer.

Lasts season 22 year old Tijani, who represented Nigeria at the 2019 U20 World Cup found the back of the net 11 times in 32 league games despite his team not having the best of season forcing them to needing the relegation play off to maintain their top flight status.

At Slavia Praque, the 21 times winners of the league in Czech Republic, he will be hoping to help their push next season against their bitter rivals Sparta Prague next season.

Daniel Martins

The future of Nigeria U20 defender Benjamin Fredrick will be one of the news to keep track of in the summer following his performances for Nigeria at the U20 World Cup in Argentina, OwnGoalNigeria.comreports.

Benjamin has seen his stock rise to an enviable height with his display at the U20 World Cup, which is coming at the back of his monstrous showing at the Africa Cup of Nations. As a matter of fact, the game against Brazil which he missed was the only game the team lost.

Popular transfer expert Fabrizio Romano listed Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Manchester City as the three top teams monitoring the defender after his strong showing in the 2-0 round of 16 game against host Argentina.

Reacting to the links, the president of Simoiben Football Academy Mrs Sarah Moses Simon said the reports is a reflection of the rise the young man has enjoyed since joining the academy at the age of 15.

” Well, I will be lying if I said I have no knowledge of the interest from the teams he (Romano) mentioned but it’s not for us to react or comment on . That’s the job of his representative, we can only advice when and if they sought to hear from us. The interest didn’t come as a surprise to me because it’s what we saw that the rest of the world is seeing now”, she told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

The wife of Super Eagles star Moses Simon went further to say Fredrick is just one among the over twenty talented players on the books of the Kaduna based Academy. ” We have not stopped working and Fredrick is one among the over 20 talented players we have.  In the summer around ten of them will likely move abroad”, she stated.

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has sent out letters of invitation to players for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria will take on Sierra Leone in the penultimate round of games in the AFCON qualifiers looking for a draw away in Freetown to secure a spot in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire.

We exclusively gathered that apart from Gent of Belgium forward Gift Orban who has been handed a maiden call up to the team after a blistering six months in Belgium, where he scored twenty goals in twenty games following his move from second division Norwegian side Stabæk, a former England youth international is also in the list.

Sources at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed to OwnGoalNigeria.com that the former England youth international who plays in the English Premier League got the all clear to play for Nigeria by FIFA two weeks ago.

He is said to be among one of the players who spoke with Peseiro while he was in England to watch and meet with the clubs of the players he has in his sights for the AFCON qualifiers.

Nigeria international Alex Iwobi has been voted the player of the year at English Premier League side Everton after playing in all of their 38 games of last season, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

While goalkeeper Jordan Pickford picked up his consecutive player of the season award, Iwobi was voted by his teammates as the Players Player of the season.

Iwobi picked up from where he left off last season with a series of impressive performances consistently despite his team’s struggle in the relegation zone. They escaped the drop on the final day of the season.

Liked with a move away from the team, he is the second Nigerian player to be voted as player of the season by his teammates with Kelechi Iheanacho also picking up the award of Leicester City player of the season.

Per what we exclusively gathered, the 27 year old was impressive playing in several positions for Everton will in the coming days meet with the club’s hierarchy where he will communicate his decision to leave the team in this summer transfer window.

He has just a year left on the deal he signed when he joined the team in 2019 and so far he has rejected the option of a renewal offered to him by the team. Teams in Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Newcastle United in England are the teams interested in the 63 capped Nigeria international.

Osas Mahawi

Italian Serie A giants AC Milan are currently leading the race to sign Nigeria U20 midfielder Daniel Daga, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Daga has been one of the standout performers at the ongoing U20 World Cup in Argentina, where Nigeria are in the quarter final after a 2-0 win over the host of the tournament Argentina in the round of 16.

The 16 year old midfielder had caught the eyes of a lost of teams in Europe but the fact that he is yet to turn 18 means any deal will see him spend two years before he can be officially transferred.

AC Milan appear to have found a way around the deal by working out an arrangement that will see Daga join them on a school boy contract with enrolment in their football school. Daga’s U20 teammate Victor Eletu went through the same route before making the step up to the first team.

Representatives of the Italian side have in their possession the details of the camp of Daga and will establish contacts when the contract details is finalized. The offer is likely to come when Nigeria’s participation at the tournament is over.

Daniel Martins

The Nigeria U16 team otherwise known as the Future Eagles were in the early hours of today beaten 6-1 by host Japan in their second group game of the Dream Cup invitational tournament, OwnGoalNigeria.comreports.

They started their campaign with a 0-1 loss to the Netherlands, a scoreline that could have been better if they had taken their chances particularly in the second half, which they dominated with chances that weren’t taken.

That wasn’t the case against Japan as they proved to be too good for the coach Haruna Ilerika led team, who weren’t helped by the harsh weather conditions during the course of the game largely due to the timing. Nigeria’s lone goal was scored by Alatan Azuka.

Future Eagles will play their last group game against the United States of America in three days time hoping for a better result and scoreline even if they exit the tournament.

Damian Waziri