Belgium top division side Gent have passed on the option of handing Nigeria U23 forward Goodluck Igbokwe a new deal with his present deal set to expire in the summer, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The 20 year old was signed on a two years deal in the summer of 2021 form Right To Win FC and immediately sent to the U23s for development before possibly making the step up to the main team.

He made the step up to the U21 this season and played a role in helping them lift the U21 Cup in Belgium scoring two goals in the process. In the 1ste Nationale which is the third division in Belgium, where youth of top division sides play he found the back of the net 12 times in 31 games.

His fine form was however not good enough in the eyes of the club to hand him fresh terms and he is now set to leave the club on a free transfer when his current deal expires on the 30th of June. He was a member of the U23 team of Salisu Yusuf who failed to make it to the U23 AFCON by losing to Guinea.

Daniel Martins

Fresh from going against the odds by beating Italy 2-0 in their second group game at the U20 World Cup, head coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso has set his sights on a win against Brazil in their final group game.

Nigeria have already sealed a spot in the round of 16 of the tournament after winning their first two group games but Bosso is leaving no stone unturned ahead of tomorrow’s last group game against Brazil.

Brazil will be going all out for a win but the Nigerian team needs a draw to be sure of finishing as group winners, Bosso is however planning on getting a win saying the win over Italy has set them on a high for the game.

“Yes, we acknowledge that Brazil has always been a hard nut to crack for our team at this level. We have lost a number of matches to them over the decades, but there is always a first time. We are riding on a wave of robust confidence and though we do not under-rate them, we certainly do not fear them.

“We have been able to fulfil our first objective for this championship: getting to the knockout stages. We will take it one match at a time from now onwards. We don’t want to take it easy and lose against Brazil; that will not be good for our winning mentality.”

Brazil defeated the Flying Eagles 3-0 in Nigeria’s first participation at the FIFA U20 World Cup (then known as FIFA World Youth Championship) in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1983. The result was the only reason Nigeria, which had beaten the Soviet Union in her first match and subsequently drew 0-0 with The Netherlands, failed to make the knockout stage.

Two years later, the Brazilians ran out 2-0 winners over Nigeria in the semi-finals, and went ahead to lift the trophy while the Flying Eagles defeated host Soviet Union on penalties to clinch the bronze medals.

In 1987, in Chile, Brazil walloped the Flying Eagles 4-0 in their opening game and the Nigerians boys never recovered from the stunning defeat.

However, both teams battled to a scoreless draw in their opening match of Group F at the 2005 finals in The Netherlands, with Nigeria finishing ahead of Brazil (silver medals as against Brazil’s bronze) at the end of the championship.

The race for the future of Nigeria U20 midfield ace Daniel Daga is hotting up with English Premier League side Liverpool the latest team to register their interest in acquiring the service of the 16 year old, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

Daga has emerged as the standout star in the Nigerian team with back to back star performance in the team’s first two games at the tournament against Dominican Republic and Italy respectively.  He literally dominated both games which Nigeria won to seal a spot in the round of 16.

As exclusively reported by OwngoalNigeria.com, AC Milan have already established contacts with the backroom staff of the Nigerian team for contacts with his club but they are not about to have a free run at him according to Liverpool.com.

“At the heart of Nigeria’s midfield has been the second-youngest player at the tournament, Daniel Daga, who should be on Liverpool’s radar”, a part of a report on the website reads.

The report went further to say the hierarchy at Liverpool are using the same scouting strategy that helped them sign Taiwo Awoniyi in 2016 after representing Nigeria at the U20 World Cup.

Awoniyi is now at Nottingham Forest with Liverpool making huge profit from his record move to Union Berlin and his subsequent big money move back to England for a record fee, by virtue of the sell on clause in his deal.

For Dage who doesn’t turn 18 until January 2025, a plan to sign him early is said to be the aim with the club seeing him as a player who fits the kind of midfielder coach of the team Jurgen Klopp likes to have.

Daniel Martins

Italian giants AC Milan have made their interest in signing Nigeria U20 midfield ace Daniel Daga known, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Daga has shown like a million stars for the Nigerian team holding his own against Italy in a game which Nigeria upset the odds by winning 2-0. He was also at his imperial best against Dominican Republic in the team’s first game of the tournament.

That performances haven’t gone unnoticed with Italian giants AC Milan pushing to have contact with his representatives to begin talks on signing the 16 year old from his team in Nigeria One Rockets. They noticed him while keeping tabs on their midfielder Victor Eletu.

He paired Eletu in the win over Italy in the middle for Nigeria and the duo totally dominated the game with slick passes and movements that left the Italians in their wake. A bid is said to be imminent and they have already sounded out staff of the Nigerian team for his details.

Aside AC Milan, we also gathered that a team in the English Premier League has also made their intention for the midfielder known. Daga will be in action tomorrow when Nigeria take on Brazil in their final group game.

Mohammed Mowiz

The coach of the U20 team of Brazil Ramon Menezes says his team will have a tough task of trying to win when they take on Nigeria in their last group game of the U20 World Cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Brazil need at least a draw to keep their hope of progressing to the round of 16 alive while Nigeria who are already through need at least a draw to finish as group winners. Both teams have arrived in Buenos Aires for the game.

Speaking ahead of the game to the Brazilian media, Menezes said his team will approach the game in the best possible way putting in mind that beating the Nigerian team won’t be an easy task.

” African teams are traditional power house at this level and Nigeria is one of them. So we have to approach the game with caution seeing how they have been playing so far. It won’t be an easy game for us to win”, he said ahead of the game which will take place tomorrow.

” All we need is what we hope to get against a team that is quick in transition, compact in defence and very good in physical duels. The fight has to be from the start of the game till the end. The aim is to go through”, he stated.

Mohammed Mowiz

Head coach of Italian Serie A side Lazio Maurizio Sarri has detailed his plans for the summer transfer window and will go all out to strengthen the attack of the team, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

2nd placed Lazio has so far scored just 55 goals, the lowest among teams in the top 5 in the league. 33 year old Ciro Immobile is the team’s leading scorer with just 12 goals this season with two matches left to play.

In a bid to find a solution to the issue, the coach has identified Nigerian striker Victor Boniface of Belgium side Union Saint-Gilloise as his prime target in the summer transfer window, according to several reports in the Italian press.

22 year old Boniface joined the Belgium side in the summer from Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt for a fee of around €2m on a deal that will run till the summer of 2026. The club also hold an option of extending his deal by a year.

Despite the length of his contract, they are open to letting him leave for a fee widely believed to be in the region of €20m but potentially rising to €30m, after his fantastic return of 22 goals and 11 assists in 53 games this season.

Preliminary talks has been held by all parties involved with the CEO of Union Saint-Gilloise Philippe Bormans confirming that there is little or no chance of the player remaining at the club beyond this summer.

“Whether there is even one percent chance that Boniface will stay? Never say never, but it seems very unlikely to me. I can no longer count the interested clubs that are concrete on two hands,” Bormans told Belgium newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.

Napoli, AC Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt and Nice in France are the other teams reportedly interested in signing the forward, who is prime to be handed his first call up to the senior national team of Nigeria when they convene for the final games in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June.

Daniel Martins

As Nigeria get set for the final round of qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in June, the Super Eagles will be without the services of first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.

Uzoho is suspended for the first of the last two games of the qualifiers, meaning he could miss the game away to Sierra Leone and possibly return for the last game in the series which will be against Sao Tome and Principe.

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro called up two other goalkeepers as back up to Uzoho during the last round of games in the qualifiers namely Victor Sochima and Chijioke Anigboso.

However it appears the coach has high hopes and confidence in the young Anigboso than for Rivers United Sochima. We gathered that there is a possibility that he will throw in the Nigeria U20 shot stopper straight into the team after his impressive performance at the ongoing U20 World Cup.

” Right from the AFCON, he has been speaking strongly of him and even the players of the Super Eagles spoke highly about him. Nigerians are beginning to understand why he is so highly rated and I know Peseiro is open to handing him his debut in the AFCON qualifiers”, a backroom staff of the U20 team told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Damian Waziri

Ahead of the start of next season German Bundesliga side Borrusia Dortmund have announced the signing of Felix Omoruyi Irorere on a free transfer from second division side  Karlsruher SC.

The 20 year old defender will start with the U23 team from where his progress will be monitored for possible promotion to the first team. He will work with the highly respected youth team coach Jan Zimmermann.

“We’re really looking forward to Felix, who will add a new facet to our game simply because of his height,” said Ingo Preuss, sporting director of the U23s of Dortmund while confirming his signing.

Born in France to parents of Nigerian descent, he made his breakthrough this season making the step up from the youth team of Karlsruher to the first team, where he played two games in the second division last season.

He is eligible for Nigeria, Germany and France but he is yet to be capped by any of the countries at any level leaving his future up in the air. However all could change if he makes the step up to the first team of the German champions in waiting.

Daniel Martins.

The future of red hot Nigerian striker Gift Orban who plays for Belgium side Gent is likey to be settled in the coming days, OwngoalNigeria.comcan exclusively reveal.

Orban joined the Belgium side in January from Norwegian second division side Stabæk and immediately took the league by storm with 20 goals in 20 games. That form caught the attention of top teams in Europe and a move away seems very likely in the summer.

Sources from France hints that Ligue 1 side Lille have already made contact with his representatives and a move is said to have been discussed with all parties agreeing to the fact that, the Ligue 1 will be a better destination for the next step of his career.

Personal terms is also said to have been discussed leaving an agreement with Gent over his transfer fee as the only thing yet to be agreed between both teams. Gent want a fee in excess of €40m.

Lille on the other hand are confident that a bid of around €30m potentially rising to €35m with add ons will be enough to have the player, who is their prime target with doubts over the future of Jonathan David their top striker.

Daniel Martins

The group stage of the elite football championship in Nigeria is coming to an end. After 18 rounds from groups “A” and “B” the strongest six clubs will form the championship group. The four weakest teams out of two dozen will go down in class.

The main contenders for the league title this season are: Bendel, Enyimba, Lobi and Rivers United. Having studied the data form of the opposing sides, you can understand which of the clubs has a better chance of winning. If you like to bet on football and play in online casinos, then we advise you to do it at mostbet.com casino.

Bendel

The “Green-Yellows” after 17 matches played in the championship led the standings of group “A”. At the same time, the team was ahead of the second Enyimba by two points, and the third by Remo Stars by three. In general, Bendel guaranteed himself getting into the championship group before the end of the group stage. Ismael Seriki and partners won eight victories and drew in nine cases, without suffering a single defeat. It should also be noted that the representatives of Benin City had the best defense among all the participants in the competition, conceding only 10 goals.

Benin Arsenal looks great in terms of play and is quite capable of accomplishments. So in the championship group, Bendel can perform confidently and aim for the championship title.