Spanish La Liga side Villarreal have confirmed the signing of Argentina international Giovani Lo Celso, who was deemed as surplus to requirements by English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

Lo Celso spent last season on loan at the Spanish side and played a huge role in their progress to the semi final of the UEFA Champions League. His return to the club on another season loan deal was made public yesterday.

During the course of his presentation, Villarreal chief executive officer Fernando Negueroles Roig was asked about the chances of the team signing Nigeria international striker Sadiq Umar who has been linked to the club.

Roig confirmed that they had him in their plans at the start of the summer transfer window but his valuation is way out of their budget. He said they are not in anyway close to signing him as widely reported by several media outlets.

“This is a topic that comes from Almeria and we don’t know anything about it here,” Roig said. “We talked about the market at the beginning, but it was an unfeasible operation, and we didn’t do anything else.”

“Right now it is as if they are talking to me about reaching Jupiter.”he concluded.

His statement means Getafe who were the other Spanish team reported to be interested in signing the forward now have a clear run, if their interest is true. Almeria are however not keen on letting him leave unless their valuation of €30m is met.

Ahead of West Ham United Europa Conference League game against Danish side Viborg, confusion has hit the camp of the visitors for the game in London.

Two of their key players were not granted an entry visa into the United Kingdom due to  post-Brexit visa rules for non-EU citizens. The club said it meant there was  insufficient time to secure a visa for the duo.

The players are Nigerian winger Ibrahim Said and Gambian forward Alassana Jatta, they won’t face West Ham on Thursday at the London Stadium due to entry rules for non-European Union citizens.

A statement by Viborg said: ‘We are extremely sorry that we have not been able to get visas for the two players.

20 year old Sa’id was a part of the 2019 Nigeria U17 team and he has so far been ever present for Viborg. His absence will no doubt hurt the team the most as he would surely have started.

‘We have tried everything, and have been in close contact with DBU [Danish Football Association], UEFA, the two embassies and another foreign club which has been in a similar situation, but unfortunately this has proved to be impossible, as there is a processing time of several weeks and the match was only finally decided a week ago.’

Viborg sporting director Esper Fredberg said: ‘It is very unfortunate purely sportingly, as both players would have had a role in the match, but even more unfortunate purely humanly, that the two miss out on the great experience.’

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen yesterday got off the mark for Napoli with a goal in their 5-2 win over Verona in what was there first Serie A game of the season.

Osimhen also supplied the assists for Matteo Politano for the fifth goal which killed any chance of a late fight back by the home team. The Nigerian is well on course to hit another ten plus goal as it has been in his first two seasons at the club.

Despite his fine perfomance coach of the team Luciano Spalleti kept on calling his name during the course of the game, something that has become a regular occurrence since the coach took over from former coach Gennaro Gattuso.

Asked if he isn’t distracted, Osimhen said he is comfortable with it insisting that he has a very good relationship with the coach. “I’m very happy with this. It’s normal for me to make mistakes, but Spalletti has faith in me and there’s a good relationship”, he explained to DAZN.

Speaking further he refused to set a goal target for the season despite the fact that he is due a special financial bonus if he scores at least 20 goals at the end of the season.

“I’m very happy, it was very important to start well. We have to feel the same as last year and start in the best way. I’m not the type of player who sets a goal target, I want to score to help the team, I put the collective in front.”

Sudanese giants Al Hilal failed to bolster their goalkeeping ranks after a proposed deal to sign a goalkepper from Nigeria failed to see the light of the day.

The club made it a priority to get a new goalkepper and targets were contacted and Nigeria international goalkepper Adewale Adeyinka was picked as the preferred option.

However a deal with the goalkepper didn’t work out despite reports that he underwent a medical at the Sudanese side. He is now back in Nigeria to train with the CHAN team ahead of their qualifiers against Ghana.

Adeyinka who is now the deputy to Francis Uzoho following Maduka Okoye self exile is reportedly close to agreeing a deal to join CAF Confederation Cup campaigners Kwara United on a free deal, following the expiration of his contract with Akwa United.

He was a part of the Nigeria U17 team to the 2013 U-17 World Cup but an injury picked up during the Africa Cup of Nations saw him miss the tournament, and it led to the emergence of Dele Alampasu who went ahead to win the goalkepper of the tournament.

Former coach of the senior national team of Italy Arrigo Sacchi says he expects to see some improvement from Nigeria international striker Victor Osimhen after working with Luciano Spalleti for a year.

Napoli will open their Serie A campaign with a game against Verona later today and all eyes will be on the Nigerian, who still remains the club’s record signing to show his worth in what will be his third season at the club.

The 23 year old finished last season with 14 goals and 5 assists despite missing almost three months due to a cheek bone injury. The figure is four more than his tally of ten goals in his first season at the club.

Sacchi said there are some areas in his game which still need improvement despite his impressive return and after working a year with Spalleti, he expects him to show improvements not just on the technical side but also on his behavior.

“I am very curious to see Osimhen at work. He has enormous potential, in my opinion not yet all expressed. A year of Spalletti’s lessons, both on a technical and behavioral level, should have served him to improve and get closer to to be that leader that Napoli needs “, he said.

The desire of Nottingham Forest to add another Nigerian to the duo of Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis has suffered a set back, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Newly promoted Forest signed Dennis from Watford to bring to two the number of Nigerians at the club. Awoniyi still remains their record signing following his move from Union Berlin for around €20.5m. He got off the mark for them in their win over West Ham.

Reports from France had it that Forest who have signed as many as 14 players this summer reached agreement on personal terms with Nigeria international Moses Simon. Talks was expected to take place with Nantes.

Those talks won’t be happening as the president of Nantes Waldemar Kita has told the representative of the wing forward that he won’t be allowed to leave the club this season, OwnGoalNigeria.com gathered.

Simon opened his Ligue 1 account with a goal in their 1-1 draw against Lill. He has two years left to run on his deal at the club but Nantes won’t mind him leaving for free like the case was with the duo of Khalifa Koulibaly and Randall Kolo Muani.

The decision is not only limited to Simon as the president has also told Ludovic Blas that he won’t be leaving the club despite a €10m bid from Lille. He is however opened to letting the duo leave for a fee in excess of €20m each.

French Ligue 1 side Nice, Rennes and Marseille are the other teams to have shown interest in Simon. He also shunned offers from Newcastle United, Brighton and Hove Albion and Leeds United.

The ongoing summer transfer window will slam shut for several countries in two weeks time hence it is expected that several players will be on the move in the coming days.

Players of the senior national team of Nigeria have also made moves and as many as three of them namely Leon Balogun, Shehu Abdullahi and Oghenekaro Etebo are expected to make move with their club career not going as expected.

While the duo of Abdullahi and Balogun are currently without a club, Etebo has been frozen out of the first team set up at English Championship side Stoke City and he is now courting interest from two teams in Spain.

According to Sport, the 26 year old who has a year to run on his deal is in talks with Getafe where he spent time on loan few years ago. Valladolid are also in for him per same publication.

A small fee is expected to seal the move for any of the La Liga side to bring an end to the nightmare the Super Eagles midfielder has endured for the past three seasons at the club. He last played for the team two years ago as he has been loaned out in two consecutive seasons to Galatasaray and Watford respective.

Senegalese forward Ismaila Sarr stole the headline last week when he scored from the halfway line in Watford’s 1-1 draw against West Brom in the English Championship.

Yesterday in FC Porto B 3-2 away win over  Belenenses Sad his feat was equalled by a Nigerian who has two cap for the senior national team of Nigeria. He recently joined Porto B.

Marcus Abraham made his case for a spot in the first team of FC Porto by scoring the opening goal in the win. He let fly an audacious effort from the halfway line which sealed into the net by catching the goalkeeper of Belenenses Sad off guard.

The goal got massive reviews around Portugal and as expected it has once again brought the spotlight on Abraham, who failed to make the best of his time in the Portuguese top flight when he joined Portimonense on loan two seasons ago.

He earned a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria after scoring eleven goals for CD Feirense in the Portuguese second division. His career has since gone off the boil with failed loan stint at Portimonense and later Radomiak Radom of Poland.

The 22 year old played for Nigeria in the double header friendly games against Cameroon which ended with Cameroon winning the first game 1-0, the second game ended in a 0-0 draw. He played a combined 26 minutes in both games and he has since not been called up since then.

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick says he will be stepping down from his role when his tenure expires next month.

Pinnick has been rumoured to be interested in pushing for a third term in office and last week said he is considering the option. The negative reaction to his statement appears to have forced him into having a rethink.

Speaking on Arise TV this morning, Pinnick who is also a member of the CAF Executive Committee said he isn’t going to be standing for re-election when he was asked if he has the intention of running for a third term.

“It is fine, I am done. There are so many Nigerians that are capable of being there (NFF President). I will assist and work with anyone who wins the elections,” Pinnick said.

“I will work with whoever emerges as NFF President. That i promise. I will intervene but will not interfere,” Pinnick concluded.