English Premier League side Brentford have completed their first signing of the winter transfer window by agreeing a deal with Freiburg for the transfer of  Kevin Schade according to multiple reports.

Schade will join the English team on a loan deal but an obligation to buy him for €20m was inserted in the deal, so it’s safe to say by next summer, the 21 year old will be a player of the team permanently.

Brentford are getting a player whom many see as a world beater in a few years time as he showed a lot of potential during his budding days but injuries haven’t been fair to him until this season. He has stamped his feet in the first team.

Eligible for Nigeria, former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr approached him to play for Nigeria in 2021 but was told he wants to continue playing for Germany, where he has been a part of the youth set up from U18 to U21.

He also went on record to make his choice of national team clear when he was asked by OJB Sports on if he will consider a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria in October last year.

“No, I grew up in Germany, it’s difficult so I played every time for Germany, I think  I want to play for Germany. I love Nigerian food, my best friend is Nigerian too and so every time his family comes, they bring family food from Nigeria. Spicy rice, first time it was very hard but now I’m good”, he told the YouTube channel of OJB Sports.

In the past Austria wasn’t known as a home for upcoming Nigerian players to build their careers before making the step up to other top leagues in Europe. However that has changed a bit lately.

An addition has been to the Nigerian players in the country following the transfer of Zion Daniel who was a part of the Nigeria U17 team two year ago but didn’t make the final list of players.

The Benin brought up forward is aiming to use third division side Tsv MacDonald’s St Johann as a spring board to take his career to the next level starting from this season which will be his first at the club.

An excited Daniel said his aim is to get the goals that will propel the team to the next level and also his career, which he believes is on the right track with his move to Austria owing to how clubs from top European leagues scout players from the country.

“It’s a huge step up for me considering the reputation of the country in terms of how players have moved to top leagues from Austria. I know my ability and it’s all about goals. I hope and pray my goals will help the team and also myself as well to get to the next level starting from this season”, he told OwngoalNigeria.com.

The squad of the senior national team of Nigeria will no doubt have some new players added to it when they resume competitive football later in the year, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

Coach José Peseiro hasn’t hidden his desire to expand the options available to him in all departments as he wants to build a team that can win the Africa Cup of Nations, something which he said is his aim at the coach.

He was in England recently and posted pictures of himself with Taiwo Awoniyi after the 1-1 draw against Chelsea, where the Nigerian was voted as mam of the match. However there is another in England who also needs the attention of the coach and he is Chuba Akpom.

Akpom has been sensational for Middlesbrough this season with 13 goals to his name. His latest goal came in the 3-1 win over Birmingham City at the weekend and it keeps their hope of a promotion playoff spot intact as they are presently 5th on the log.

Former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick in an interview on a Lagos based radio station confirmed that, FIFA has given Akpom the all clear to play for Nigeria after completing his nationality switch from England.

As a matter of fact, we gathered his management reached out to new Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro last year and the Portuguese already has his name penned down as a possible addition to the team this year. His form has no doubt place him in a perfect spot for a chance.

The future of Nigeria international forward Emmanuel Dennis at English Premier League side Nottingham Forest is unsure with the club willing to listen to offers for him in January.

Dennis was signed for around £15m from Watford five months ago but has only started three games and scored once. He infuriated the coaches during the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United when he was introduced as a second half substitute.

He was largely blamed for his role in the visitors third goal which came when they were pushing to reduce the deficit. That and the fact he hasn’t nailed down a permanent spot in the starting lineup has hastened the decision to offload the 25 year old before January 31 when the transfer window closes.

The idea is to let him leave in order to create space in the squad for the registration of new players who will join the club in January. Dennis has already played for Watford this season meaning he can only leave for a club abroad or return to Watford.

It is believed he will be open to a return to Watford if they have interest in bringing him back to the club as they bid to gain promotion back to the top division. Teams abroad have also been made aware of his availability by his representatives.

He isn’t the only player with a bleak future at the club on the grounds of poor attitude with Harry Arter being the other player. He has not played for the club since January 2021 as his attitude has infuriated officials leading to his banishment to the academy despite the fact that he is on £40,000 a week pay.

One of the most talked about transfers in the summer was that of Sadiq Umar joining Real Sociedad from newly promoted LaLiga side Almeria with as many as four teams keen on his signature.

Sadiq caught the eyes of top teams in Europe after finishing as top scorer for Almeria for the second season running with 18 goals, two short of his previous season’s tally of 20 goals. He followed it up with two goals in three games for Almeria in the top division.

The signing from Serbian side Partizan Belgrade moved to Real Sociedad and also scored in his first game for the team before getting injured in just his second game at the club. He was linked to Villarreal, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla before his move.

Sadiq in an exclusive chat with Owngoalnigeria.com senior editor Mohammed Yusuf Suleiman popularly known as Mowiz from his hotel room in Kaduna lifts the lid on what happened and how he ended up at Real Sociedad, plus his quick recovery from the injury that should keep him out for six months at least.

On His Move Away From Almeria:

Sadiq: I was in Kaduna when I get the call that Villarreal want to sign me. However what looked like an imminent deal didn’t happen as both teams couldn’t agree on my valuation. They made two more attempts but a compromise wasn’t reached.

The next was Borussia Dortmund. They wanted a loan deal with the option of a permanent deal because their move was due to the unfortunate diagnosis of their top striker Sebastian Haller with cancer. So they needed me to fill in the gap and watch how I will settle. Again Almeria weren’t keen on a loan deal.

Sevilla had talks with me with the permission of Almeria. All was agreed and no doubt it was a move I was keen on happening. However both teams were €2m apart in their valuation. Even when I was told to push for the move, I wasn’t having any of such thoughts because Almeria is home to me.

It was in the middle of trying to find a compromise that the Sporting director of Almeria called to say Real Sociedad are willing to pay what they want and I have been granted permission to speak with them. I didn’t until I asked couple of my teammates, who were like it’s a no brainer.

The next day, talks were held and all sorted out So far it’s the best decision of my career.

Miraculous Recovery From Injury:

Sadiq – I will be four months into my operation and rehabilitation by next month but I feel good already and will resume working on the pitch next month. That is way ahead of my schedule, It’s a miracle that even my doctors can’t believe. I am supposed to be out for at least six months and the doctors insist it has to be that time frame.

However, I have been told I must be 150% (laughs) fit before I can return in order not to suffer a relapse but from the look of things I will be back in eight weeks. We will see to that or maybe even earlier.

Maduka Okoye has revealed why he is open to a loan move from English Championship side Watford, where he has failed to justify the reason why the club bought him in the summer.

Signed from Sparta Rotterdam for a club record fee for a goalkeeper in the region of €7m, the 23 year old who was the club’s player of the season in back to back years in the Dutch Eredivisie has played just one game since his move to the English side.

Lately, the goalkeeper who has 16 senior caps for Nigeria has been relegated to the role of third choice under coach Slaven Bilic, but it seems it’s connected to his desire to leave the club on loan when the January transfer window opens.

Speaking about his future at the club, Okoye explained why he is keen on leaving on loan when the January transfer window opens but didn’t mention where he will likely be at for at least till the end of the season.

“Sports-wise it hasn’t worked out as I had hoped, but we’re sticking to the plan . No, it’s certainly not easy. It’s quite tough, I have to tell you very honestly. At Sparta I played every week and now I’m on the couch, that was something I had to get used to. Then you come home with a different feeling than when you play every week, take balls out of the goal and get compliments. But that is also football and is just part of it”, he told Voetbalprimeur.nl.

“We’ll see what happens. My contract runs until 2027, so anything is possible. Maybe I will be rented out, or not, I don’t know yet. The Eredivisie? Yes, that sounds like something to me “The clubs in the Netherlands know me well from Sparta and know what they can do with me. We’ll see. For now I’m just focusing completely on Watford and the games we’re going to play.”

The international future of on loan Arsenal goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has taken a new twist after he was approached by the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Austine Eguavoen.

Eguavoen was in London to see players of Nigerian descent following an invitation from Fulham defender Tosin Adarabiyio. He watched the game between Crystal Palace and Fulham which ended 3-0 in favor of the away team at Selhurt Park.

He subsequently met with Ebere Eze, Malcolm Eboiwei and Tayo Adaramola all of Crystal Palace. He also had talks with Josh Onomah of Fulham. The purpose of his trip was to convince the aforementioned players to pledge their allegiance to Nigeria at senior international level.

We exclusively gathered that he also reached out to Okonkwo who is on loan to League One side Crewe Alexandra from Arsenal. He had made 19 appearances this season with seven clean sheets to his name.

That form was said to have reached the ears of Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro who is looking for more options in goal after the not too impressive performance of the two goalkeepers in the team Francis Uzoho and Maduka Okoye.

Okonkwo we heard told Eguavoen that his representative is the one who can properly handle such discussions as he is focused on his development at Crewe with a view of returning to Arsenal next season.