Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr can easily pass as the coach who successfully convinced several players born abroad to commit to playing for Nigeria.

Rohr was very active in that aspect with the likes of Cyriel Dessers, Bryan Idowu, Tyronne Ebuehi, Kevin Akpoguma, Maduka Okoye, Ola Aina, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo all born abroad coming into the team during his tenure.

However he didn’t succeed with all the players he approached to play for Nigeria as some wanted more time to mull over the decision but that wasn’t the case with new Ajax signing Bassey.

Bassey maiden call up came under Gernot Rohr but he didn’t get to play. However Rohr said he holds the defender in high esteem and has already detailed a path for him to be in the team before his sack as coach last December.

*With Bassey. It was very easy. I told him how we intend to ease him into the set up and he accepted. A member of the NFF technical department Paul (Aigbogun) set up my meeting with him after a detailed report on him. I am not surprised he has moved to Ajax”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

English Premier League side Watford have been forced into changing their plans for Nigerian forward Emmanuel Dennis ahead of the start of their campaign in the English Championship.

Dennis was initially left left out of the squad that departed on a training tour as the plan was to move him on before the end of the summer transfer window. They were convinced they will get at least £20m owing to his performance last season.

However, despite reports linking the 24 year old who scored 10 goals last season with several teams in England, none of the teams linked with him have come up with an offer for the former Club Brugge forward.

It has forced Watford into rejigging their plans for next season by having Dennis return to pre season training with them incase he doesn’t get to leave the club before the end of the transfer window.

Recent reports suggest he has been offered to newly promoted Nottingham Forest but the club appear to be close to reaching an agreement with former Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard. Reports suggest they prefer him ahead of the Nigerian.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro insist the senior national team of Nigeria deserve to be at the world cup in Qatar ahead of Ghana.

Ghana pipped Nigeria to the World Cup ticket on away goal rule after a 1-1 draw in Abuja, four days after paying out a 0-0 draw at their backyard. The result led to the appointment of Jose Peseiro as coach.

Peseiro has so far guided the Super Eagles to two straight win in his first two competitive games. Winning 2-1 against Sierra Leone and 10-0 against Sao Tome and Principe in Morocco.

“I have a team with players who play in England, Italy, France, Spain, but unfortunately they didn’t beat Ghana to go to the World Cup,” he said as quoted by Pulse Nigeria.

“But I think it was an accident, I think Nigeria is better than Ghana,” he added.

Pressed by OwnGoalNigeria.com on if he still stands by the above statement, the coach insist he won’t shy away from what he sees as the truth. ” Everybody knows we had the better team”, he said.

” In football you can’t have freak results but it’s your job to stop it from happening regularly else you lose your position as a top team. Ghana got one by accident, we have to make sure such don’t happen again”, he concluded.

Manchester United continued their pre season games with a comfortable 3-1 win over fellow English Premier League side Crystal Palace three days ago.

With United lining up all of their top guns, Crystal Palace played the game without a host of senior team players as they were excluded from the training tour due to adminstrative and fitness issues.

It opened the door for players in the youth team to make the step up and stake a claim to be in the plans of coach Patrick Viera, one player who took his chance with both hands is new signing Malcolm Ebiowei.

The former Nigeria U17 trainee was signed from Derby County for free following the expiration of his deal. He was handed the chance to start against United, a team he was liked to before he decided to pitch his tent with Crystal Palace.

He didn’t look out of place and tormented Manchester United’s new signing Tyrell Malacia with ease. Constantly going past him and it forced Fred to play close to the full back to offer him protection against the pacy 19 year old.

As expected it drew praises from fans of both teams who watched the game and some of them expressed their opinion on Twitter.

Malcolm Ebiowei huge talent

— MR ARSENAL..! (@princehelix) July 19, 2022

Crystal Palace has bagged one In Malcolm Ebiowei. 18years.. fantastic talent

— Uncle G (@tuitown) July 19, 2022

We missed out on Malcolm Ebiowei…. Boy is a baller

— CaRdIFf (@CLEMDIFF) July 19, 2022

The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa has revealed the role president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick played in his inclusion in the Super Eagles squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Musa at that time wasn’t getting games at English Premier League side Leicester City and they were calls for him to be excluded from the sqaud but then coach Gernot Rohr included him in the sqaud.

Recalling what led to his inclusion, Musa who ended up as Nigeria’s top scorer at the tournament told Arise TV in an interview monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com, that his inclusion was made possible by Pinnick, who told him come what may be will be at the World Cup.

“I remember back then in Leicester when I was not playing before the World Cup, a lot of people were complaining, ‘Musa is not playing in Leicester so why is he going to the World Cup’, but the president spoke with the coach that no matter what Musa has to be in the World Cup so I went to Russia and later on he was saying you see”, he said.

He went further to say the president was also behind the call up he got to the team even when he was without a club for three months. He cites his very good relationship with the president as why he is getting such favours.

“I remember when I was back home without a club I was still called up to the Super Eagles which a lot of people questioned. We have a very good relationship with him but there is nothing personal apart from that. He believes in me and I believe in him, he knows what I can do as a leader.”

Ajax Amsterdam has officially unveiled their new signing and in the process confirmed paying a record transfer fee which will rise to a certain amount before the end of his deal at the club.

In an announcement on their official website, the club confirmed that Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey was signed for a fee of €23 million which will rise to €26 million before the end of his deal at the club in 2027.

The fee is a record sale by Scottish side Rangers and also makes him the most expensive defender ever signed by the Dutch giants. He has already joined the team in their pre-season camp in Austria.

Bassey was signed as a replacement for Lisandro Martinez who left the Dutch side for Manchester United a few days ago. Ajax saw off competition from English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion to sign the 23 year old.

With majority of the first team players of English Premier League side Crystal Palace away for pre season training some players from the academy have been handed the chance to train and play games for the first team.

They are getting game time with players of the senior team who didn’t make the squad for pre season training due to travel restrictions and fitness issues. So far they have played two games at their base in England.

Young Nigerian goalkepper Owen Olamidayo Goodman has kept goal in both games rising from keeping goal for 45 minutes in the 4-2 win over Ipswich Town to keeping the full 90 minutes in the 3-2 win over Gillingham.

The 18 year old who is eligible for England, Canada and Nigeria but haven’t been capped by any nation at senior level spoke about the experience of making the step up to the first team.

“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.

“My family has a good relationship with Kanu Nwankwo when he came to Canada. My mum struck up a conversation, introduced me. We talked about Nigeria and our football history. I want to be a part of this in the future”, he concluded.

German giants Bayern Munich took out time to praise the three Nigerian players on their books as they step up preparation for the start of next season.

Bayern Munich have no recognised senior Nigeria international on their books but Jamal Musiala was eligible for Nigeria until his senior debut for Germany last year. He met with the other Nigerians on their books.

The duo of Treasure Odunze and Daniel Francis are with the Bayern World squad and did have a chance meeting with Musiala at the Allianz Arena two days ago as posted on the club’s verified Facebook page.

“A very special Nigerian #FCBayern connection 🇳🇬 . #FCBayernWorldSquad players Treasure Odunze and Daniel Francis got the chance to meet Jamal Musiala at the Allianz Arena yesterday 📸”, a post on the Facebook page reads.

While Musiala remained with the first team preparing for the start of the season, the Nigerian duo have been sent out to Austria to train with Austria side Klagenfurt alongside another player from the World sqaud Muslim Umar.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro will have his contract extended by the Nigeria Football Federation in the coming days, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Peseiro signed a one year deal to become the permanent coach of the Nigerian team following the end of the tenure of Austin Eguavoen as interim coach of the team. It ended with Nigeria failing to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.

His contract has a provision to be extended for a further two years and the Africa Cup of Nations initially planned for 2023 will be used to judge his time as coach and also possibly hand him an extension or not.

However following the postponement of the tournament to 2024, the NFF are now exploring means to extend his deal to cover the period of the Africa Cup of Nations and talks will be held in that regards after the international round of games in September.

We exclusively gathered that the proposal will be same terms as he is earning at the moment as only the length of the contract will be tempered with. The coach has had a bright start to his reign as coach in the two competitive games he has handled the team so far.

It started with a 2-1 win over Sierra Leone in Abuja before a thumping 10-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe in Morocco four days after. They will take on Guinea Bissau in back to back AFCON 2023 qualifiers game in September.

With lot of players taking advantage of the ongoing summer transfer window to sort their future at club level, Nigerian players have also been on the move.

The moves might not be as high profile as some of the moves that has stolen from the headline in this transfer window but to many it’s an avenue to either relaunch or taking the next step in their career for rapid development.

One time Super Eagles invitee Joshua Oluwayemi has decided to take the next step of his development to League one side Portsmouth on a year deal from Tottenham Hotspur, where he played for the U23 team in the Premier League 2.

Oluwayemi maiden and only national team call up to the Nigerian team came in July last year, when he was called up as a replacement for Ikechukwu Ezenwa who pulled out of the friendly game against Mexico due to an injury.

He described the call up as a dream come true for him and a proud moment for his family as despite the fact that he was born in London, he has a strong Nigerian background which fuelled his desire to play for Nigeria ahead of England.

Full name Joshua Oluwayemi Oluwaferanmi Chibuzor, he didn’t get to play in the game which Nigeria lost 0-4 and since then hasn’t been called up to the team. His move to Portsmouth puts him on the radar once again especially if he makes his mark in the team.