English Premier League leaders Arsenal were in the market for a left sided centre defender during the recently concluded summer transfer window and they had a look at several options but failed to sign any of their targets.

The departure of Pablo Mari to newly promoted Italian Serie A side Monza made it imperative for the team to get a left sided centre back as they are left with just two options in Gabriel Meghales and Rob Holding.

According to the agency of Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey, the 23 year old was among the options looked at by Arsenal with preliminary talks initiated between the Gunners and his former team Rangers of Scotland.

Passionate bettors were discussing the potential transfer. Following this news, Fresh Bet had a notable flood of bets favouring Fulham FC in Premier League matches.

After impressing in Rangers remarkable run to the final of the Europa League, Bassey became the bride of most teams in Europe but settled for Ajax due to what his agent said is a promise of regular football which will further aid his development.

” Arsenal contacted us and we made it known to Rangers but they didn’t follow up on the discussion. We also had interest from Aston Villa and West Ham but at the end Ajax had the best offer not in terms of money but for his development as they promised me regular game time”, a representative of the agency told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

As the date for the start of the 2022 World Cup draws nears, players and coaches have been giving their opinions about the teams they will be facing at the tournament especially at the group stage.

Nigeria won’t be in Qatar for the World Cup but they still will be in the news with many using them as reference for other African teams who will be at the tournament, which will start on the 20th of November to the 18th of December.

Five teams will represent Africa namely Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon and Ghana who stopped Nigeria from making it to the tournament. However Canadian star winger Alphonso Davies insist the Nigerian team still ranks among the fearer teams in the continent.

Speaking on their Group games, where they will take on Belgium, Croatia and Morocco. Davies said the although the Moroccans will pose a huge threat but the Super Eagles as the senior national team of Nigeria is called still represent the most feared team from the region.

” Morocco will be tough as the case with many African teams but we know a lot more about Nigeria as the feared force in that region. We will give the game all we have and hopefully get the result we need in the group”, Davies said while speaking on their group opponents.

Once upon a time the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced that then Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has decided to pledge his senior international career to the senior national team of Nigeria.

Less than 24 hours, Abraham granted an interview where he denied accepting to play for Nigeria but left his option opened. All of that died when he got his first call up to the senior national team of England and he declared his intentions to fight for a spot in the team.

Around that time Napoli forward Victor Osimhen was still trying to find his feet in senior football with German side Wolfsburg. He failed to transfer the form he showed at the 2015 U17 World Cup, where he finished as top scorer and commander a €3m transfer fee.

Fast forward to 2022 and both players are now in the Italian Serie A with Osimhen playing a role in helping Napoli stay top of the Serie A while Abraham is at Roma who are yet to build any level of consistency after ten rounds of games.

The fact that both players are of Nigerian descent made Italian media outfit Corriere dello Sport to compare their performances this season and despite playing four games less, Osimhen has more goals than Abraham.

This season Osimhen has three goals from six games in the league while Abraham has just two goals from ten games this season. A tally made more surprising when you consider that Osimhen has played 241 minutes less than the Roma forward.

As the senior national team of Nigeria continue their search for a goalkeeper to bring respite to what is one of the big issues in the team, it appears there is a chance of having one as an option.

Presently the duo of Maduka Okoye and Francis Uzoho hold the spot of the top two goalkeepers of the team, but their high profile errors which has proved costly especially this year has made the issue of getting more options in that department a priority.

One name that has jumped up that queue is Crystal Palace highly rated 18 year old goalkeeper Owen Goodman, who was among the substitutes when they defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers  2-1 in the English Premier League on Tuesday.

Goodman was rewarded with a spot on the bench after impressing for the U21 in Premier League 2, where he has kept two clean sheets in eight games this season. He is seen as one of the best in his age grade at the club with coach Patrick Viera a huge fan of his abilities.

A story was written on his rise by the online version of popular Nigerian newspaper Leadership and his mother Abi Goodman took to her Instagram handle real_abigoodman to share a picture of the story with the headline ” 18-yr-old UK-based Prodigy, Goodman, May End Nigeria’s Goalkeeping Nightmare”.

The story was written by Patrick Ochoga and it got the approval of his mother even though her son is eligible to represent Nigeria, Canada and also England. Already Goodman has said he is open to represent all three countries depending on who gives him a call up first among the trio but hinted at Nigeria as his preferred choice.

“Whoever calls me first, I will honour the invite, I will be glad to play for my country (Nigeria) if I get the opportunity I will grab it,” he said. For now he has only represented England at U18 level.

The final list of 18 players who will represent Nigeria U23 against Tanzania on Sunday has been made known by head coach of the team Salisu Yusuf after their final warm up game yesterday.

They rounded up their preparation by forcing Nigeria Professional Football League side Shooting Stars to a 1-1 draw. Their only other test game was a heavy 0-3 loss to Ibadan based Academy VIA.

Coach Salisu Yusuf picked seven foreign based players with the rest coming from teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPL) and academies in Nigeria. No player was picked from the second tier Nigeria National League (NNL).

Per Yusuf, the team will depart Nigeria today for the first leg in Tanzania on Sunday with the reverse tie billed for Ibadan on Saturday next week. Below is the list of players who made the cut for the game .

Full List.

Foreign Based: Isaiah Ejeh (Mjallby,Sweden), Promise David (Sirens FC, Malta), Michael Ologo Inainfe (Istanbulspor, Turkey) and Ogunniyi Oluwatimileyin Abiodun (FK Auda, Latvia). Adeyemo Oluwapelumi Emmanuel (FC Vizela, Portugal), Success Makanjuola (CD Diocesano,Spain) and Hezekiah Okirikpo (Dundalk FC, Ireland).

Rest Of The Squad: Naziru Auwalu Ibrahim (Enugu Rangers), Munir Idris (Niger Tornadoes), Edidiong Enobong Ezekiel, Qudus Olamilekan Akanni (Remo Stars), Daniel Wotlai Abia Warriors), Christopher Nwaeze (Plateau United), Evans Ogbonda (Akwa United), Nathaniel Nwosu, Dominion Ohaka (Water FC Abuja), Amah John (Box-to-Box FC), Bamayi Calocho (Yum-Yum FC).

The decision of the technical crew of the Nigeria U23 team to hand a call up to Irish born Hezekiah Okirikpo as part of the foreign based players for the U23 AFCON qualifiers game against Tanzania has been termed as a wrong move.

The forward who just turned 19 is among the ten foreign based players called up by coach Salisu Yusuf for the game and he is said to be a player of Irish side Dundalk FC , who are third in the Irish top division. However he isn’t a part of their first team.

Per checks by OwnGoalNigeria.com senior editor Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman, his contract at the club expired on the 1st of October meaning he is presently clubless. His main highlight at the club was playing for the U19 who won the youth league.

Okirikpo joined Dundalk in 2021 on a deal that expired in October and he is rated as a very strong and quick forward who is also good in the air but generally can be said to be a top player by any metric. As a matter of fact he isn’t even known for goal scoring despite his role as a forward.

His invitation to the Nigerian team can be termed as a move to help bring his club career back on track using the U23 of Nigeria, which has been decimated by issue of age discrepancies which led to the axing of 15 of the 32 players initially called up.

The Nigeria U23 team preparation for this weekend U23 Africa Cup of Nations suffered a huge set back with 15 out of the 32 players called up to the team not eligible to play in the game.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, over ten of the players called up had issues with their ages making them ineligible for the U23 tournament. The handlers of the team discovered four days ago and have moved sharply to replace the players.

Ten players plying their trade abroad in second rated leagues have been called up as part of their replacement with other players from teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League called up as well. However there is a still a big issue in the area of goalkeepers.

We gathered that the goalkeeper who was supposed to be the first choice of the team have been dropped due to age discrepancies noticed in his documents. It has now left the coach with four goakeepers picked from teams that are not playing in the top flight league in Nigeria.

The situation has left the coaches stunned and they are walking a tight rope when it comes to getting a favourable result away from home. They will depart for Tanzania tomorrow ahead of the game on Saturday.

The appointment of Slaven Bilic as the new coach of English Premier League side Watford appears to have given a glimmer of hope to the Nigerian players at the club bar goalkeeper Maduka Okoye.

Bilic was appointed as coach following the sacking of Rob Edwards after a poor start to the season, prior to his appointment none of the players of the Nigerian team, numbering three were given a look but that has since changed.

Since his appointment, the coach has brought back vice captain of the Nigerian team William Troost Ekong into the heart of his defence and has given him full game time in their last four games. His longest run in the team for over eight months.

Samuel Kalu who was seen as a player with no future at the club has also found favour with Bilic and made his first appearance of the season in the last game against Norwich City, the coach still has him in his plans for today’s game against Millwall.

With a string of injuries still affecting his side, and another tough game ahead at home to Luton Town on Sunday (October 23, 12noon KO), the ex-Croatia boss is looking forward to further squad reinforcements that will enhance Watford’s bid of climbing the table in the coming weeks.

Bilić added: “João came out of the Norwich game alright, and Kalu has been looking sharp. Offensively he has that explosion and sharpness to beat a player – he’s still not fully fit, but he can still make a big impact for us.

He has however not said a thing about Maduka Okoye and has kept his faith in Austrian goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann. Okoye’s only appearance this season came in the Carabao Cup game against MK Dons, which they lost 0-2.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro said he is still leaving the door open for players who have been a part of the team before his appointment but are yet to be called up since he took charge.

Peseiro made this known when he was asked about the fate of some players who haven’t been a part of the team in the six games he has coached the team so far. He pointed out that their form at club level has a big role to play in handing them a chance.

” I know the players who were here before I came and they will get their chance if they continue to do well with their teams. That is the way to get into my team because I want competition in all position”, Peseiro said before the 1-2 loss against Algeria in a friendly game.

Going by his statement, Genk forward Paul Onuachu who last played for the team around a year ago has put himself in prime position for a recall to the team ahead of the friendly game against Portugal, with his current form. He didn’t start the season so well but he is presently on a scoring run.

Yesterday he scored a brace against Westerlo to take his goal count for the season to six in ten games, all the goals came in the last four games where he scored once against KV Oostende, OH Leuven in addition to a brace against KV Kortrijk, before that of yesterday in the 6-1 hammering of  Westerlo.

Atalanta move to two points behind league leaders Napoli following a 2-1 win against Sassuolo. The win also preserved their unbeaten start to the season.

The result left coach of the team Gian Piero Gasperini elated as expected and he was full of praises for his players calling them one of the best group of players he has ever managed. He reserved special words for Nigeria international winger Ademola Lookman.

Lookman was on target for the thrid consecutive game after using quick feet to evade his marker before slotting with his left from a defence splitting pass. Signed for just €8m, he is slowly becoming the bargain of the summer.

“Lookman is what you call a player. He always knows what to do, he moves well, he is fast, he has technique,” Gasperini was quoted as saying by Pazzi Di Fanta.

“I also give him the goal from Monza, because it is true that it is an own goal, but it would never have been a goal if he did not arrive,” he added.

Playing in a hybrid system alongside Luis Muriel he has been their man outlet for goals this season as he also has three assists all in ten games this season. His career that appeared to have hit the rocks following his move to RB Leipzig is back on track.

The former Everton winger haven’t had the best of times since his permanent move to RB Leipzig two years ago as he failed to build on his successful loan spell. He had back to back loans away from the club, first was at Fulham before Leicester City last season.