The international future of Crystal Palace goalkeeper Owen Goodman has taken a funny twist following an invitation from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Goodman has made remarkable progress this year at Palace especially during pre season and also the test games played before the return of competitive football after the World Cup break. Firmly established as the first choice of the reserve team, his rise hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Eligible for Nigeria, Canada and England, he was invited to be a part of the U20 team of Nigeria who are presently in Abuja as part of their preparation for the U20 AFCON in Egypt next month.

We gathered that the shot stopper was excited by the opportunity but developed cold feet when he was told he will was told he will bear the cost of his trip, but will be reimbursed upon his arrival as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as at now can’t foot his bills.

As around that time he also received calls from the English youth team set up and that of Canada telling him that he will be a part of their squad for the next round of international games in March.

For now, it’s still unclear if he will honour the call up by Nigeria or wait till March and pick between playing for England or Canada. The Nigerian team are already in camp with training set to intensify in the coming days.

Goodman hasn’t hidden his desire to play for Nigeria and recently posted a picture of himself in the shirt of the senior national team of Nigeria on his social media account.

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro wasn’t the top candidate when interviews was held for the vacant position of the coach of the team, according to the representative of one of the contestants for the job.

Peseiro was appointed as coach of the senior national team of Nigeria on a one year deal last year following the failure of the team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he is currently seven months into the job.

However, the story could have been entirely different where it not for reasons best known to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), as former PSG and also ex coach of the national team of France Laurent Blanc was the top pick for the job.

” I was told congratulations and expect to hear from us (NFF) soon on the details and salary. That was how we ended. I also had verbal discussions with former NFF president Amaju Pinnick who went as far as detailing how he will want the terms of the deal to be written”, his representative told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Pressed on if his client’s salary demands made it impossible for the NFF to engage him further, he dismissed the claims saying they didn’t get to the stage of discussing wages and bonuses.

” Peseiro is earning really well and that was about what we had in mind but it didn’t get to the stage. Talks were about his assistants and how he will help develop the Nigerian coaches who will work with him. It’s okay and we wish the team all the best going forward”, he concluded.

Nottingham Forest signed Nigerian international Emmanuel Dennis ahead of the 2022-23 Premier League season, becoming the 12th transfer signing at the time for the newly-promoted club. Yet, just 370 minutes have been played by Dennis this season in the Premier League, and a transfer away from the club looks likely this January.  

Dennis has only been at the City Ground for around six months, yet Nottingham Forest’s coaching staff has been disappointed with the player. Yes, Dennis has one goal and one assist in 10 appearances in the league this season.  

Nottingham Forest are battling relegation in the Premier League. The Reds have two massive six-point matches upcoming against Bournemouth and Leeds United. Fans can learn all about football betting before making a wager on Forest’s Premier League upcoming games.

It isn’t a bad return for a player that averaged 37 minutes in his opening 10 games of the season. However, Nottingham Forest’s staff isn’t necessarily upset over the output from the player. Rather, coaches are disappointed with the attitude and contributions of the Nigerian striker.  

Forest paid Championship club Watford around £10 million for the striker in the offseason. Although the fee could rise to as much as £20m, Nottingham Forest’s initial pay was around half the figure that was reported in the British football media.  

The 25-year-old striker had made waves at Watford last season in the Premier League. He scored 10 goals and added six assists, as Watford battled relegation before ultimately going down to the second division.  

Talent and goalscoring has never been in question for Dennis. The problem that has haunted the striker for years has been his attitude, which has been labelled as poor for some time. There were issues at Belgium’s Club Brugge and Germany’s Cologne. His play at Watford overshadowed any issues with attitude.  

Nottingham Forest spent more than £150m on new players during the offseason on 23 new players. Dennis was one of those new players, as he arrived in the middle of the club’s spending spree. The final straw on Dennis’ Nottingham Forest career may have come at Old Trafford in the Reds’ 3-0 loss to Manchester United.  

Dennis played a wayward pass that led to Manchester United’s third goal of the game. Manager Steve Cooper and his staff were upset with Dennis’ performance. It was reported that players and/or coaches had a harsh exchange of words with the striker.  

Nottingham Forest are in the market to sell players in January. Several players along with Dennis are surplus to requirements. Some of the players Forest want to move on were from the promotion-winning team from last term. Lyle Taylor and Harry Arter are two players that are no longer needed at the City Ground and will leave in some capacity in January.  

Reports indicate Dennis has some admires. He cannot land at another Premier League team, but at least one unnamed club from Major League Soccer and a team from Saudi Arabia have inquired about the player.  

There is a problem with any transfer for Dennis, and it is monetary. He has played for both Forest and Watford this season. Transfer rules won’t allow Dennis to join another team that plays a league season from August to May except for Watford. Therefore, he must join an MLS, Saudi, or another club that plays a season beginning in February or March and ending in October or November.  

As many as five players plying their trade in England are expected to be in the Super Eagles squad for the AFCON qualifiers in March, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has a pool of five players from which he is expected to pick players or possibly call up all five after his recent trip to England. We gathered top of the list is Tosin Adarabiyio who plays for Fulham.

Peseiro feels the present defence line doesn’t have enough options and Tosin who is a regular for Fulham in the English Premier League ticks the right boxes. Already the player has communicated his willingness to switch allegiance to Nigeria.

Top scorer in the English Championship Chuba Akpom is the second who is sure of a spot in the team, his switch of allegiance process came through two years ago but he wasn’t called up by erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr as he was struggling at club level.

Now fully settled at Middlesbrough with 13 goals from his role just behind the main striker, he fits the profile of the type of player for Peseiro’s 4-4-2 style of play. He is no doubt high up the list with his agent also sighted at the office of the Nigeria Football Federation in Abuja to probably make a case for his client. The same as on loan Southampton forward Nathan Tella.

Tella has been ever present for high flying Burnley in the English Championship with eight goals and two assists for the league leaders. His switch of allegiance was approved by FIFA in January last year making him eligible for Nigeria. Peseiro is said to be an admirer of the winger.

Still in the English Championship, the eyes of the coach is said to be on Watford midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru, the former Nigeria U20 and U23 star is for now the only Nigerian out of the three at the club who is enjoying a regular run of games. Although it’s still unclear if he will be fit enough before March as he is presently nursing an Injury which will keep him out for three months.

On loan Arsenal goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo is the only shot stopper in the mix with his performances for Crewe Alexandra coming at a time where Nigeria is badly in need of more options in goal owing to unconvincing displays from the duo of Maduka Okoye and Francis Uzoho lately.

Okonkwo has ten clean from 26 games this season, a remarkable return for a goalkeeper who is having his first real run at the senior level. Marvin Ekpiteta of Blackpool is another name who has been long suggested but it is believed that Adarabiyio is ahead of him at the moment. The ex Nigeria U20 trainee can however make the team for the March game.

The coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso on Saturday made public the list of players who will be in camp for the final phase of preparation for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

35 players will begin training today in Abuja with around ten players based abroad also expected to join the team next week before the announcement of the final list of 26 players for the tournament which starts in February.

Bosso’s list dominated discussions with many wondering about the huge number of players picked from football academies as against those picked from professional teams, that is teams playing in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League (NNL) and the Nigeria League One (NLO).

Speaking on the reason, a backroom staff of the team told OwnGoalNigeria.com on the condition of anonymity that most of the players from the professional teams had faulty documents while some were found out to be above the age. Around six of them were also sent packing for having dual passports with different ages.

He said it’s why some of the players picked from teams in the leagues were screened out in the first phase of camping despite their impressive performance. The idea according to our source is not to win at all cost but to build a team that will in the future serve Nigeria at various levels.

The head coach of the team is particular about documentation as they were saved by a stroke of faith regarding one player, who was dropped on the eve of the WAFU tournament following a tip off by his former agent. If he had played , Nigeria would have been disqualified.

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen went into the record books when he scored the first goal for Napoli in their 2-0 win over Sampdoria in the Italian Serie A.

Napoli suffered their first defeat of the season when they lost 0-1 to Inter Milan four days ago and needed to respond to keep their lead at the top as secured as it was before the World Cup. They wasted no time flying off the block.

Osimhen was the quickest to react to an in-swinger in the 19th minute, as he diverted the ball for what was his tenth goal of the Serie A campaign this season. Eljif Elmas ensured the three points are safe with a goal from the spot eight minutes from time.

However it was Osimhen’s opening goal that was recorded in the history books as he equals George Weah’s record of ten goals in three different Serie A seasons consecutively. They are presently the only ones from Africa to achieve that feat.

Former Africa player of the year and also World Player of the year Weah achieved his feat in 1995/1996, 1996/1997 and 1997/1998 seasons respectively. Osimhen has equalled it three years into his five year deal at the club as he has scored at least ten goals in his stay at the club in three consecutive seasons.