The new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro is yet to properly settle down to his new role as coach of the team despite picking up two wins in his first two competitive games in charge of the team.

Peseiro will be saddled with the responsibility of calling up players for the first time when the list of players for their next international game is made public. It will be the first time he will be in charge of calling up players as he inherited the last squad he used in prosecuting the previous round of games.

One player who hasn’t gotten a call up since the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is Cardiff City’s newly signed left back Jamilu Collins. The Nigerian international has already started life at his new base on a high by winning the man of the match in their first game of the season.

He spoke exclusively to OwnGoalNigeria.com on the man of the match award in the 1-0 win over Norwich City said he still has a future in the team. He said he need to perform at a consistent level to catch the attention of the new coach of the team.

” He knows me I want to believe. All I need to do is play more and do more. Help Cardiff get to the English Premier League and watch how things unfold. The coach is new so everyone can stand a chance”, he said.

One player whose future is still up in the air is Cyriel Dessers as he is yet to commit his future to Belgium side Genk despite a whirlwind start to the season.

He has scored three goals in two games this season with an assist as well but he is still keen on a move away as he bids to try his luck abroad following a successful loan spell with Feyenoord. He finished as top scorer in the Europa Conference League with ten goals.

Recent reports suggest he is in talks with FC Copenhagen of Denmark after he was pictured with the coach of the team Jesse Thorup in a picture circulated on social media platform Twitter.

Dessers has moved quickly to douse the speculation terming it as nothing but a chance meeting hinting that it happened while he was on vacation. He wondered if same would have been said if he was pictured in Barcelona having his vacation.

” If I’m in Barcelona on summer vacation, I won’t be linked with a move to Barcelona either, he says according to VoetbalPrimeuer.

Belgium top division side will in the coming days continue their tradition of signing Nigerian players as they are close to signing another player from the West Africa country.

Gent at some point had five Nigerians on their books namely Moses Simon, Samuel Kalu, Rabiu Ibrahim, Peter Olayinka and William Troost Ekong. They also later signed the duo of Emeka Chinonso and Adewale Oladoye from Abuja based academy Water FC.

With the duo no longer at the club, they are keeping in line with their links to signing Nigerian players as we reliably gathered that they are close to signing Flying Eagles and HB Academy highly rated striker Ahmed Abdullahi.

Abdullahi came to prominence during the last WAFU B U17 Championship of last year where he scored a brace in the final group game for the Nigerian team. He has been promoted to the U20 team.

He scored twice in the recently concluded WAFU B U20 championship which Nigeria won. A head injury denied him the chance to add to his goal count. He left Nigeria last week and he is in Belgium at the moment.

Sources in Belgium say he will sign a five year deal with the Belgium side in the coming days as every details which will make the deal happen for the 18 year old is almost sorted.

The number of Nigerian players plying their trade in Belgium is about to swell with top division side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise close to sealing a deal for a Nigerian forward.

The club is one of the most successful in the history of Belgian football. The club won eleven Belgian championships between 1904 and 1935, making it the most successful Belgian club before World War II.

In 2021 , Union won promotion back to the Belgian First Division A, marking its first appearance in top-flight football in 48 years. A feat which got better as they clinched a spot in the UEFA Champions League in their first season back in the top division.

They finished top of the table at the end of the regular season, the first club in Belgian history to do so the season after promotion to the top flight. Union would go on to finish second in the champions play off, securing Champions League qualification for the first time ever in club history.

The club is owned by Tony Bloom, who also owns Brighton and Hove Albion in the English Premier League. Several of Brighton’s players have been loaned to Union SG, including Deniz Undav, who was the Belgian club’s top scorer last season.

As part of their preparation for the qualifiers they have set their sights on former Nigeria U20 forward Victor Boniface who currently plays for Norwegian side FK Bodø/Glimt. He has shown really good form this year in the early stages of the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League.

Boniface has scored five goals in four gamea so far and according to several reports in Norway, he caught the attention of lot of teams around Europe but Union SG are said to be the favourite for his signing.

Already his club FK Bodø/Glimt have signed his replacement in Strømsgodset’s Lars-Jørgen Salvesen with his agent Atta Aneke quoted as saying it will make no sense to have both players in the same team. It is seen as a hint that Boniface is on his way out.

“I think it would be stupid to have Victor and Lars Jørgen, two strikers who absolutely should and should play in any Eliteserie club, as competitors in the same club. It would be bad business for me, Glimt and the players.

“I don’t think that would be a smart idea. But in this case, we’ll see if Victor is there next week, Aneke stated in an interview on on the podcast “Synseligaen” where he was a guest.

Manager of Southampton Ralph Hasenhuttl has praised Nigeria international midfielder Joe Aribo for his brilliant solo goal in their final game which they lost 1-2 to Villareal.

Aribo signed from Rangers few weeks ago wasted no time in endearing himself to the Saint Mary faithfuls with a strong run from his half which ended in the box of Villareal before he finished with aplomb to draw his side level.

The goal as expected generated lot of excitement from fans of Southampton with many likening it to goals scored by PSG forward Lionel Messi in his prime.

Hasenhüttl praised Aribo’s wonder goal on his first St Mary’s start, as his thoughts now turn to next week’s season opener at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Aribo expected to play some part in the game.

“When he is running with the ball he is hard to stop. He was a little bit lucky also, but he always has these situations when the ball is under his feet and he finds good solutions,” he said of Saints’ new No 7.

Ajax of Amsterdam most expensive defender Calvin Bassey didn’t have the best of debut for the club as he was sent off 15 minutes after coming on in a 3-5 defeat to PSV Eindhoven.

The Nigerian was shown a straight card after a review by VAR made the referee to have a change of mind after initial giving him a yellow card for the challenge.

His sending off was roundly seen as the turning point in the Dutch Super Cup game as Ajax were at that time pushing to mount a comeback. The scoreline was 4-3 in favour of PSV before he was sent off.

Speaking after the game, coach of Ajax Alfred Schreuder said after the sending off of Bassey he knew things will be difficult for his side to mount a comeback. He went further to explain why the Nigerian was sent off and rightly so.

“We also defended poorly. We started very well and came in 1-0. Then we failed to score a second goal. And then we conceded three goals just like that. But we also did a lot of things well offensively. It was only after Calvin Bassey’s red card that I got the idea that it was going to be difficult. He wanted too much, I think. It was a red card that you can give a red card for”, he said at the post match conference.

Players of the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been involved in the current summer transfer window with as many as seven moving to new clubs.

One of the player who was largely tipped to make a move this season is Cyriel Dessers after his performances for Feyenoord where he smashed ten goals to finish as the top scorer in the Europa Conference League.

Back at his parent owners Genk, he is still not fully settled and want to try his luck elsewhere considering the fact the fact that he is 27 years old and this might be his last big chance to make a decent move.

Linked with a move to newly promoted Serie A side Cremonese, same team that just signed his fellow Nigerian David Okereke, Dessers admitted that although the club isn’t a big club but that they play in the Serie means he is open to the idea of joining them.

“Cremonense is not a big club? But Serie A is a big competition and I dream of that”, he said when asked about a potential move to the Serie A side. Feyenoord where he spent last season at loan are reportedly still in the running for his signature.

As the English Championship gets underway, the future of Nigeria international forward Emmanuel Dennis at Watford is still not certain per a report by The Athletic.

Dennis scored ten goals last season but it wasn’t enough to keep Watford in the English Premier League. Following their relegation he was heavily tipped to leave the club owing to his massive numbers.

However that hasn’t been the case as reported interest from West Ham, Everton and Newcastle United didn’t end up with a bid to Watford, who are open to letting him leave. They want a fee of £25m.

Per The Athletic, Nottingham Forest are the latest team to show an interest in the 24-year-old. With sources close to Dennis saying they were encouraged by meetings that took place with the Forest hierarchy.

The aim, if an offer comes to fruition, would be to partner Dennis with fellow Nigerian Taiwo Awoniyi, who signed from Union Berlin. However before any deal is sanctioned, Forest manager Steve Cooper would want to speak to the player first to carry out his own due diligence.

The dream of several footballers is to see their children step into their shoes when their wind up their career. That dream has come true for ex Nigeria U23 and one time Super Eagles invitee Greg Etafia.

A member of the Nigerian team to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The goalkepper who spent majority of his career playing in the Premier South Africa League (PSL) can now boast of his son following in his footsteps.

His son Kelvin Etafia who is predominantly a central defender has joined National First Division (NFD) side Cape Town Spurs. A remarkable rise for the young defender who cut his teeth playing for the youth team of Highlands Park in 2019. His father was a coach at the club while he was with the youth team.

He will now be introduced into professional football by starting off in the second division but at a very historic club. They use to be a franchise for Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam.

In 2020, they ended their association with Dutch club AFC Ajax, with Cape Town Stars acquiring full control of the club, and they subsequently renamed to Cape Town Spurs.

Calvin Bassey has gotten the administrative all clear to play for his new team Ajax Amsterdam when they take on PSV Eindhoven later today in the Dutch Super Cup.

The left footed center back who joined the Dutch side from Rangers hasn’t played a game yet as his work permit application took time to be done, making him miss a crucial period of integration.

Before his application was granted, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were required to send documents proving that he is a full fledged Nigeria international as it is part of the process.

OwnGoalNigeria.com gathered that, the response from the NFF played a role in easing the process which was stalling and cost him game time in pre season. He is however tipped to play some part in today’s game.

22-year-old Bassey joined Ajax last week as a replacement for Lisandro Martinez, who moved to Manchester United. Ajax financial director Susan Lenderink parted ways with 23 million euros for Bassey and that amount could rise to 26.5 million euros through bonuses. It’s still a sizeable piece of business considering that the total fee they got for Martinez could rise to around 67 million euros.