The decision not to hand a first time call up to Fulham defender Tosin Adarabiyio was down to the head coach of the team Jose Peseiro, a member of the technical department of the NFF told OGN.

Adarabiyio invited the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to England to watch him play in the game between Fulham and Crystal Palace. The move was the first made by the former England youth international to signify his interest in playing for Nigeria.

Eguavoen was said to have briefed Peseiro and handed over the contact of the defender to the Portuguese coach for talks and also begin the process of a switch of nationality but that call wasn’t made by the coach.

When Peseiro visited England, he didn’t check on the Fulham defender despite the fact that Eguavoen has already briefed him on the interest of the 25 year old in playing for the senior national team of Nigeria.

Peseiro is said to have passed on the chance of having talks with the defender after watching him and he believe the team has defenders, who are at his level or above his level based on the style he wants to play as coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

For Tosin to play for Nigeria, it probably has to be under another coach or possibly if the coach has a change of mind on his opinion about the former Manchester City youth team defender.

Daniel Martins

The Nigeria U17 team will compete at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations without the services of four of the midfielders who helped the team to win the WAFU B championship, OGN can exclusively reveal.

All four of them were at grade 4 when the Magnetic Imaging Resonance (MRI) test was carried out on the team. The lads fall within the grade limit of not more than 5 pegged by CAF but the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have their own policy on the grades.

NFF pegged the grades at four bearing in mind that players could hit the limit of five when tested at the tournament. The fear is taking players who are on five could see them jump to six and cost the team disqualification from the tournament.

However, coaches of the team have reached out to the hierarchy of the NFF to explain that other teams will be coming with players with grade 5 saying the decision not to allow players on that grade attend the tournament will weaken the Nigerian team.

Top chiefs at the NFF are however adamant on shifting grounds ahead of their trip to Germany for a training tour in preparation for the tournament, which is the qualifiers for the U17 World Cup.

Mohammed Mowiz

The head coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso has shown that he is keen on having only the best players play for Nigeria at the U20 World Cup by reaching out to players doing well at their respective teams home and abroad.

OGN can exclusively reveal that the coach who already has Inter Milan midfielder Ebenezer Akinsanmiro on his preliminary list of players for the tournament has once again established contacts with another midfielder in Italy.

Bosso has made contact with the representatives of Victor Ehuwa Eletu who recently turned 18 with the hope of having the left footed midfielder who was named as the captain of the U19 in his team for the World Cup.

Already that is needed to forward this invitation is at the disposal of the coach, who is still putting finishing touches to his preliminary list of players and keen on bolstering his options in midfield, particularly with doubts over the availability of the team’s mercurial midfielder Daniel Daga.

Eletu has been present for AC Milan this season and played a huge role in their run up to the UEFA Youth League semi final, where they will take on Hajduk Split on the 21st of April. The Nigeria U20 team will be in camp around that time in Abuja.

Waziri Damian

The captain of Napoli Giovanni Di Lorenzo has played down the absence of star striker and top scorer Victor Osimhen ahead of today’s UEFA Champions League game against AC Milan.

Napoli will take on their Italian rivals in the quarter final first leg tie away at the San Siro without their main striker due to a muscle injury. He is now in a race against time to be fit for the return leg in two weeks time.

Ahead of the game, the captain of Napoli Di Lorenzo was asked about the absence of the Nigeria international who has 25 goals this season and largely why they are on course for their first Serie A title since the 90’s. He said they will miss him but believe they can win without him.

“We know that of course he is an important player for us, we are sorry not to have him but I have full faith in the players we have available: we don’t depend on a single player”, he told Prime Video.

Without Osimhen they lost 0-4 to the same team on the 2nd of April. It remains to be seen if today’s game will have a different option than the game which was a domestic game in the Italian Serie A.

“Do we start again from 0-4 or something else? No, we’ve already talked a lot about that match: it’s over now, we analyzed it with the coach but what we do tomorrow night will count above all. It will be a difficult match, against a great team, but we have prepared ourselves as well as possible and we are ready to take the field.”

As the season draws to an end clubs are beginning to take stock of how their players performed during the course of the season, pundits and club legends are not left out as well.

At Dutch club Ajax, the jury is out on Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey who hasn’t quite lived up to his price tag of around 23 million euros since his move from Scottish side Glasgow Rangers.

Bassey was the star for the team in their run to the Europa League final last season but he has found it really hard to get going in his new surroundings in the Netherlands. His performances have been mixed.

He is now out of favor and has been on the bench for the last three games and even when he has played, he has been deployed at left back and not in the role of center back that he was signed for.

Former Ajax star Rafael van der Vaart says the signing of the left footed defender hasn’t been a success and he wondered why he was signed, saying the club should have instead rely on players from their youth teams, where he believed if they are no better players then the club has a bigger issue to contend with.

He said: “How is someone who played for Glasgow Rangers like Calvin Bassey going to be able to lead the defence at Ajax?

“Where was the Ajax youth system? Was there no one there better than him? Because if there isn’t then you have a major problem.

“Sometimes it’s better if you don’t have any money because then you don’t do crazy things. Then you wait for the right moment and occasionally take a chance”, he said on Dutch television.

The former Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur star ended his statement blaming the former coach of the team who sanctions the signing of the Nigerian. “Instead they spent 23 million Euros on Bassey. Alfred Schreuder made too many big mistakes”.

Mohammed Mowiz

The future of the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro is in doubt with his contract set to run out next month. Results under his guidance is responsible for the doubts over his future.

A clause in his deal states that he is entitled to an extension of his present deal by two years if he wins the Africa Cup of Nations, the tournament was planned for last year but following the postponement to next year, it’s very likely that the coach will be in job till next year.

That clause appears to have torn the football house apart but a member of the board told OGN that the coach can still be sacked even if he qualifies for the AFCON, but the fear is that it could be a legal drawn battle which might result in the football house paying a compensation to the Portuguese coach.

Aside the fears he said , sacking Peseiro now or in May when the first part of his contract runs out means they will have to employ another coach, which means they will be paying two coaches at the same time owing to the fact that Peseiro owed around four months of unpaid salaries.

He said the football house struggled to meet up with the financial commitment of Peseiro because they were also at that time paying the salary of Gernot Rohr, who won a case against the football house on his dismissal as coach.

What the football house is trying to do is to negotiate down his salary and give him another one year deal that covers the AFCON period. However that move is said to be unpopular among members of the board with many keen on seeing the back of the Portuguese coach.

Mohammed Mowiz

The agent of a senior international player for Nigeria has revealed that his client is frustrated with life at the club after their decision to effect a pay cut following relegation from the English Premier League.

Watford were relegated at the end of last season and have little chance of securing immediate promotion back to the top division in England. Players of the team were made to take pay cuts after the relegation.

One of the players is a senior international for Nigeria and he said enduring a pay cut made him have regrets over his decision to join the club. He claimed he shunned other offers and even the option of an extension by his former team to join Watford.

” Crazy when you consider that we were all given pay cuts following relegation. I had offers but Watford was better for me financially because they offered more but looking back now I have regrets. The difference with what I am earning at Watford isn’t much at all”, he told OGN in a chat.

” There will be lot of movement in the summer from the team. The paycut leaves a bad taste in the mouth”.

Mohammed Mowiz

FC Lugano of Switzerland goalkeeper Sebastian Osigwe says he believe he has what it takes to be the first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers games.

Nigeria will be without first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho for the games against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe in the final running for a spot at next year Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire.

Osigwe has been in fine form for Swiss side FC Lugano leading them to the final of the Swiss Cup after a penalty shoot out win over Servette. The 29 year old has kept goal in 10 games this season and it includes seven in the league.

He feels with his age and exposure he should be given a chance to be the first choice in Uzoho’s absence particularly as he is not new to the national team set up, as he has been invited under former coach Gernot Rohr.

” Of course I feel I am ready for this next phase. I will be more than happy if I am considered for the games because I have what it takes to be the first choice goalkeeper of Nigeria. My experience, age and also familiarity with players in the team is another edge”, he told OGN.

Osas Mahawi

The Nigeria U17 team has suffered a huge setback in their preparation for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations, OGN can exclusively reveal.

As first reported by OGN, the team will be leaving for a training tour of Germany but they will be without the services of at least five key players in the team that won the U17 WAFU B championship.

We exclusively gathered that , the team’s result of the Magnetic Imaging Resonance test popularly known as MRI Test has knocked off the entire first choice midfielders of coach Nduka Ugabde.

Their grades were 5 after the test still within the limit of participation at the tournament, which is pegged at grade 6 but the Nigeria Football Federation has a policy that only players within the range of 1-4 will be with the team.

The step we gathered was taken by the NFF because of the new directive by CAF that says if one player fails the test, the entire team will be disqualified from the tournament. To stay on the path of caution they decided to drop theirs to 4.

Players who are at grade 4 can possibly be grade 5 when tests is done at the tournament, hence the fear that players at grade 5 could go past the limit of 6 if they are allowed to represent Nigeria at the tournament.

Per what we gathered, the technical crew of the team will readmit the affected players after the AFCON if the team picks one of the four tickets to represent Africa at the World Cup. FIFA has a different rule from CAF as they only kick out the affected player and not the team if anyone fails the test.

Damian Waziri