Letting a player leave is sometimes the best options but when the player go on to become a success elsewhere, questions will no doubt be asked about the decision and also those who made it.

That is certainly the case with Leicester City and the decision to let Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey leave the club for free two years ago. He has since gone on to become one of the best young defenders in Europe.

He followed up his breakthrough season at Rangers by posting man of the match display in all of the games he has played for his new team Ajax, the team he joined in the summer. He made his Champions League debut against his old team and his performance led to talks about how he rose to his present level.

Bassey was turned down by the likes of Leyton Orient and Barnet as a youngster but Bill Wall, one of the most respected scouts in the game, saw his potential and he helped Leicester City, who faced no competition in signing the youngster but were excited to get the deal done.

Leicester City lost Bassey to Rangers for minimal compensation in the summer of 2020 after he turned down the offer of a new contract. He did so because City’s coaching staff, including then under-23s boss Steve Beaglehole, saw Bassey’s future as a centre-back. Bassey put his foot down, insisting he wanted to be a left-back, and departed without reaching an agreement.

At Rangers he was modelled from a left back to a centre back same role he refused to accept as his best role. The joy for Leicester City academy handlers is that he is excelling in a role they thought is his favourite year ago, however they would have love it the more if he is representing them as they have a crisis in defence.

The goalkeeper department of the senior national team of Nigeria is one that many will say is still open for anyone to stake claim to the position of the number one of the team.

Presently the two goalkeepers seen as first and second choice options Francis Uzoho and Maduka Okoye are presently struggling to have game time for their respective teams in Europe.

Although they are still expected to be in any future squad of the team but one player is prime to challenge their status if he gets a chance under new coach Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

On loan Arsenal goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has caught the eyes at English League One side Crewe Alexandra with three clean sheets in eight games.  His performances has led to talks of an imminent decision on his international career.

We asked a member of his management crew and we got to hear that Okonkwo is at the stage of his career where he is open to pushing for a spot in the senior national team of Nigeria. However he will continue to play for England unless he is called up by Nigeria.

” He is 21 and that’s about the time to make up your mind on what you want for your future. For now the focus is on doing well for Crewe and also the English youth teams but if a call comes from Nigeria then a decision will be reached swiftly. It’s a no brainer”, he replied when quizzes on the player’s future.

The most talked about forward in world football since the start of the new football season across the top five leagues in Europe has to be Erling Haaland after his recent run in front of goal for Manchester City.

Haaland has scored ten goals in just six games in the English Premier League in what is his first season in the English Premier League following his move from German side Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

So it comes across as a huge compliment when a forward is compared to the Norwegian when it comes to making deadly move around the box, especially when it comes from an established player like David Silva.

Silva who is now teammates to Nigeria international forward Sadiq Umar at Real Sociedad believes the Nigerian carries same threat like Haaland who is the lead striker for his former team Manchester City.

” You ask my opinion and I will say he is improving in all aspects of his game. Same as Haaland? I don’t like to compare players but he can be as deadly in the box. Very composed and knows where to be making it easy but it isn’t if you attempt it”, he said.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has replied the president of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis on his controversial comments on signing of African players.

Laurentiis ruffled feathers when he said that he won’t be signing players from Africa unless they agree not to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations, which usually takes place in the middle of the European season as it is in January.

Peseiro when asked of his opinion on the statement made by the coach said even though clubs have the right to sign players only from specific regions, he believe there is no team in Europe that can survive without a player from Africa and to an extent South America.

“The club has the right to sign the players it wants. But we know that Europe will need more and more players from South America and Africa. There is no way to turn around. There are fewer and fewer young people born in Europe and fewer and fewer young people playing football ”, he explained.

“I usually say that if football in Europe wants to preserve the purity, skill and imagination that is increasingly present in countries where football remains on the street, children spend more time playing football than PlayStation”, he stated further.

He said it’s an undisputed fact that in few years from now, several teams in Europe will depend heavily on players from Africa and South America as interest in football in the above mentioned region is still very high.

“It is an indisputable fact: the quality of European football will increasingly depend on young people born in South America, Africa and Asia. I don’t see how this can be replicated in many clubs. They are indispensable if we want to play as we like to see him.

“Everyone who loves football in the world loves feelings. Unfortunately, due to the birth, the shared responsibility for what is happening to our young people in Europe, who have a lot to do, and football turns out to be just one more thing, while in Africa and South America.

“It is still Football is one of the most important things for young people and this gives them more potential to make the best and most beautiful game, which for me is the best game in the world”,he concluded.

Nigeria international winger Samuel Chukwueze was once again the man in the spotlight for Spanish side Villarreal in their Europa Conference League opening game with a goal and assist in their 4-3 win over Lech Poznan.

Chukwueze helped his team draw level with a spectacular volley following a flowing team work in the 32nd minute. He followed it up with an assist for Alex Baena to put his team his team 2-1 up. Baena scores his second of the game and at that state it seems like the Spaniard were coasting to an opening group win.

The Polish didn’t quite give up as they rallied their way back from two goals down to bring scores to 3-3 much to the surprise and disappointment of the home crowd with around thirty minutes left to play.

A stunned Villarreal pressed to regain the advantage but had to wait till one minute before regulation time for Francis Coquelin to score what ended as the winner settling the seven goal thriller in their favour.

Former captain and star of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Okocha says it will be hard for Nigeria to find another player who is similar to him during his playing days.

Okocha was fame for his fanciful foot works and tricks during his playing days. He was so gifted that his dribbling became his trademark especially when he introduced himself with a wonder goal for Eintracht Frankfurt against Karlrushe in the German Bundesliga.

After getting past his markers, he twisted ans turned legendary German goalkepper Oliver Khan twice before finally slotting the ball home. The goal announced him to the rest of the world.

Speaking on the anniversary of that landmark goals, Okocha was asked if he thinks the Bundesliga and the senior national team of Nigeria will have another player of his kind, he responded by saying it will be hard because he is special.

“It will be hard if not impossible because I think every player is unique, you know,” says the man himself. We have got a lot of talented players in the Bundesliga. But, with all due respect, maybe I was a little bit special”, he rounded up saying.

The former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says the team would have won the Africa Cup of Nations and also made it to the World Cup in Qatar if he wasn’t sacked by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Rohr was fired with just three weeks to the Africa Cup of Nations, which was a little over three months to the World Cup qualifiers playoff games against Ghana. Nigeria ended up crashing out of the first elimination round at the AFCON and later failed to make it to the World Cup.

He holds the record of the longest ever serving head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria as he was at the helm from 2016 till 2021 when he was surprisingly axed from his role, few hours after Nigeria made it to the playoff stages of the world cup qualifiers by finishing as group winners.

” We were still celebrating when the news came that I have been sacked as coach. They claimed it was an order from the top. I was in shock. This came at a time when I feel we are almost getting close to making out project for the team work”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” The aim was winning the AFCON and we had plans for a team that would have won it and also qualified for the World Cup. There was a plan to integrate new players using the AFCON and also the pre world cup friendly games. I can’t think of any player in the team now that we didn’t have in our plan or gave a call up. I’m sad for my players “, he concluded.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the planned international friendly game between Nigeria and Portugal will now go ahead despite fears that the game would be called off over a disagreement on appearance fee.

The Nigeria Football Federation and Federação Portuguesa de Futebol have signed a formal agreement for the Super Eagles and A Seleção to clash in a prestige senior team friendly at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon on Thursday, 17th November.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have won the Africa Cup of Nations on three occasions (as well as Olympic men’s football gold, silver and bronze) while Cristiano Ronaldo captained Portugal won her first continental trophy (Euro Championship) in France in 2016, defeating host France 1-0 after extra time at the Stade de France. As hosts, A Seleção lost the Euro Championship final to Greece in 2004.

Already billed to play 2019 African champions Algeria in Oran on 27th September, the encounter with Portugal is another ace by the Amaju Pinnick administration, which has enabled high-end international friendlies for the Super Eagles and other Nigeria National Teams over the past eight years.

Before now, the Super Eagles have played against five-time world champions Brazil, Argentina, England, Ukraine, Senegal, Mexico, Serbia, Poland, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali.

The match with Portugal will be the first clash at senior men level for both countries, though last year summer, the Super Falcons and the Senior Women Team of Portugal fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the USWNT Summer Series in Houston, Texas, USA.

It can also be recalled that in 1989, Portugal’s U20 boys defeated Nigeria’s U20 boys 2-0 in the final of the FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U20 World Cup finals) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Estádio José Alvalade is a natural grass facility that holds 50,000 spectators, and is home venue for Sporting Clube de Portugal. The facility is named after José Alvalade, the founder and first club member of Sporting CP who died in 1918. The stadium was opened in August 2003.

Portugal will be led by five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, easily one of the best footballers the world has ever seen, while the Super Eagles will be led at the fore by Italy-based forward Victor Osimhen, growing to be one of the most lethal strikers in world football.

The senior national team of Nigeria will be without the services of top striker Victor Osimhen when they take on Algeria in an international friendly game on the 27th of September.

Osimhen suffered a muscular injury yesterday during the course of his team 4-1 win over Liverpool forcing manager Luciano Spalleti to sub him off after a little over 30 minutes. The manager confirmed after the game that he won’t be available for a while.

Spalleti didn’t give a time frame for his return but hinted that he won’t be available for the rest of the month starting from this weekend game in the Italian Serie A against Spezia.

“He is not at risk for Saturday, he certainly wont play and he will not play any more in the coming weeks for a while, since it is a muscle problem”, he said at the post match conference.

His absence will no doubt put Napoli’s fine start to the season at a loss as he has been pivotal to their unbeaten start to the season with three goals and two assists after seven games in all competitions.