Nigeria international winger Moses Simon was heavily linked with a move to a team in the English Premier League at the start of the summer transfer window owing to his strong performance for Nantes last season.

Simon was pivotal in helping the modest Ligue 1 side end their over 20 year wait for a trophy when they lifted the French Cup. Many felt that will be the end of Simon’s stay at the club he joined from Levante three seasons ago.

However he is yet to leave and even lasted the entire duration of their 0-0 draw against Angers as the Ligue 1 season officially got underway over the weekend. OwnGoalNigeria.com gathered that Simon turned down a move to England were several teams were interested in signing him.

” Simon could easily have joined Watford in January but he decided against it. That was before they got relegated. Fulham, Brighton and Leeds United were at a time in talks with his representatives. Nothing came out of it for various reasons. This summer he had interest from three teams in the English Premier League”, a source told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” It’s about his interest or lack of it. The interest from Leeds United, Newcastle United and Brighton didn’t materialize into anything concrete because of Simon’s unwillingness to move to the English Premier League.

” Nice came with a concrete offer for him after hearing from his representatives that he is indeed leaning towards staying in France. Another team in France is in talks with Nantes. It’s his decision and it’s for family reasons”, he concluded.

As part of their plans to strengthen their squad for the defence of their Serie A crown and also a return to the UEFA Champions League, AC Milan see the midfield as an area that requires attention.

First on the list of players marked out to solve the issue is Lille of France Renato Sanchez but he has decided to join fellow Ligue 1 side PSG. Leaving Milan to switch to other targets.

Little known Nigerian midfielder Raphael Onyedika of Danish side Midtjylland is seen by the hierarchy of the team as an option according to Gazzeta.it. A bid is reportedly set to be imminent.

Although there are no reports on talks between the parties involved, the 21 year old is said to be top of their priority list as back up options. He is worth around €5m per reports from the Danish media.

Last season he made 48 appearances in all competitions playing 27 times as a central midfielder, 17 times as a defensive midfielder and once played as a centre back. A versatility which could be part of why Milan have him high up on their list.

As the countdown to the start of the Italian Serie A begins, as many as six players of the senior national team of Nigeria are expected to represent teams in the division, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Ola Aina, Kingsley Michael, David Okereke, Isaac Success, Tyronne Ebuehi, Ademola Lookman are already with different Serie A teams with Cyriel Dessers few details away from also joining them in the Italian top division.

That number could even swell further with the emergence of Emmanuel Ekong at Empoli, who have been promoted to the first team. He is the son of former Nigeria senior international Prince Ikpe Ekong.

Ekong has been ever present for Empoli playing in virtually all of their pre season games ahead of the start of the new season in Italy. Already he has been handed a first team squad number.

At the club he will be teammate to Nigeria international Ebuehi who joined the team in the summer, if he progresses as expected he will no doubt be in the frame for a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria.

Born in Sweden, he represented them at U20 level last year but it is believed that his dream still remains playing for the senior national team of Nigeria like his father did during his playing days.

As many as four Nigerian players have made moves that set a new transfer record during the course of the ongoing summer transfer window, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

In a window where many haven’t been excited by moves made by Nigerian players, it’s pertinent to note that four of them have set new transfer records starting with Taiwo Awoniyi’s move to Nottingham Forest.

Awoniyi made it back to back record transfer when he moved to the newly promoted English Premier League side for a fee of €20.5m from Union Berlin of Germany. Last summer he also joined the German side for a record fee from Liverpool in the region of €8m.

Calvin Bassey was the next Nigerian to set a new transfer record when he moved to Dutch giants Ajax from Scottish side Rangers for an initial fee of €23m, which could rise to €26m. The fee is the highest sale ever made by the Scottish side. He also becomes the most expensive defender ever signed by the Dutch side. In their list of expensive signings he is second.

One which went under the radar is that of David Okereke, the one time Super Eagles invitee who was also a part of the last U23 team of Nigeria left Club Brugge for newly promoted Serie A side Cremonese. Last season he was on loan to relegated Serie A side Venezia.

His move to Cremonese was worth €10m and it makes him their most expensive signing ever. Same week that another Belgium side Union Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, abbreviated to Union SG or USG broke the bank for another Nigerian.

Victor Boniface joined the Belgium UEFA Champions League representative from Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt in a deal worth €2m. Making him the most expensive signing in their history.

With the transfer window still very much open, move Nigerian players will be expected to switch clubs. It is left to be seen if it will be for record fee as the case was with the aforementioned quartet.

The decision not to register Nigeria international midfielder in his squad of 25 players for the season has been explained by coach of English Championship side Stoke City.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the 26 year old wasn’t handed a squad number for the season after his return from a loan spell at Watford, where a nasty injury saw him play just nine games. The club didn’t take up the option of signing him permanently.

It was his second straight loan spell away from the club and it means he hasn’t played to the club in two and a half years. As a matter of fact since his first season when he was voted their player of the season.

Explaining his situation at the club, coach of the team Michael O’Neil said although he still has a contract at the club, he isn’t fit enough for the team and also has his mind fixed on a permanent move away from the club with one year left to run on his deal.

“Peter’s been away from the club for two and a half years. In that period he’s been on three different loans. He previously hasn’t returned in pre-season, this pre-season he has returned and he played some games for Nigeria at the end of last season. He had quite a bad injury last season with Watford so missed quite a portion of the season”, he said .

“He’s not fit enough to train with the squad yet and I think in his mind he’s still looking for a permanent exit from the club. It’s very difficult for us as a club to rewind two-and-a-half years but he’s still our player, he’s contracted to the club and we’re duty bound to look after him, which is what we’re doing”, he rounded up saying.

Many players will be using the new season to get into the plans of their respective coaches in their national team when it gets underway in few weeks time.

The English Premier League will begin this weekend same as the German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1. Players will begin the road towards catching the attention of their coaches in the national team.

Nigeria international defender Tyronne Ebuehi who has been in and out of the team says part of his aims this season is to use his new club Empoli as a springboard to get back into the Nigerian team.

Shortly after terminating his deal at Benfica, Ebuehi joined Empoli on a permanent deal after a fairly successful time on loan to relegated Serie A side Venezia last season has laid out his priorities going into the new season.

” Joining Empoli is as an opportunity to become a national team player? Yes. If I do well, I will have the chance to go to the national team, this is one of my goals “, he told the official website of the team. He hasn’t played for Nigeria since AFCON 2021 which was played in January this year.

With the transfer window reaching the point where teams are now keen on completing deals, both selling and buying clubs are now under pressure to conclude deals.

The rush will mean a host of Nigerian players who are facing uncertain futures will be on the move in the coming days. One player whose future is up for grabs is that of Genk striker Cyriel Dessers.

However recent reports from Italy suggest that it won’t be for long as newly promoted Italian Serie A side Cremonese are set to complete his signing on a five year deal from Belgium side Genk, where he has scored three goals in the first two games of the season.

Cremonese are willing to pay as high as €6m for the 27 year old, who was top scorer in the UEFA Europa Conference League while on loan to Feyenoord. The reported fee is €2m more than what was in the deal for the Dutch side to sign him permanently. They objected against taking up the option.

Dessers will become the second most expensive signing of the club, €4m behind David Okereke who joined same team last week for a fee reported to be around €10m.

The future of several players of the senior national team of Nigeria still remains unresolved even as various teams get set for the start of the new season.

Players like Shehu Abdullahi and Leon Balogun are even without a club at the moment while the trio of William Troost Ekong, Emmanuel Dennis and Oghenekaro Etebo are facing uncertain futures due to largely different reasons.

Etebo’s case appears to be the one that is worse at the moment as even though he is still contractually binded to Stoke City. He wasn’t registered for the new season and no shirt number was assigned to him.

The Nigerian returnee from a frustrating loan spell at Watford, where injuries saw him miss most of the season hence their decision not to take up the option of signing him permanently.

As things stands now, the club is working on ways to terminate the remaining one year left in his deal as first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com. That move will bring a sad end to what was a promising start to his career at the club which started with winning the player of the season in his first year at the club.

Spanish La Liga side Celta Vigo have concluded their preparation for the new season as they aim to finish higher than they did last season where they finished 11th.

Coach of the team Eduardo Coudet have been particular about strengthening the attack of the team which is very much dependent on ageing Iago Aspas .

Now 35 years old, he has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 418 official games across 13 seasons and scoring 184 goals, the idea going into next season is to begin the process of searching for his long term replacement.

To that extent the club have moved sharply to tie up a deal with Egyptian side Tala’ea El Gaish for Nigerian forward Victory Beniangba, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The 18 year old joined the Egyptian side on loan in January to help ease their goal scoring issues and he wasted no time in making his mark with a powerful header to hand him team a huge win against Zamalek on his debut.

He ended the season with six goals in 18 games, a form which caught the attention of Celta Vigo who have signed him to their B team but he will spend most of his time with the main team.

“We are counting on Victory, who is a very young player, who comes to B but due to characteristics he can play for the first team like Miguel Rodríguez,” said Carlos Mouriño, the president of Celta Vigo.

Little known Victory came to limelight while playing for his hometown club Bayelsa United. He helped the second division team lift the Nigeria FA Cup called the Federation Cup and went ahead to represent them in the CAF Confederation Cup. They failed to make it past the preliminary stages.