French Ligue 1 side Nantes are preparing for the French Super Cup game against PSG while also searching for options to boost their striking department following the departure of two senior players at the end of last season.

Malian international Kalifa Coulibaly left following the expiration of his deal at the club same as young French forward Randal Kolo Muani who joined German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt on a free transfer.

Nantes have taken their search to Czech Republic by targeting 26 year old Nigeria international forward Peter Olayinka of Slavia Prague, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively report.

Preliminary talks have taken place between both teams with the Czech Republic side demanding a whopping €10m as transfer fee for Olayinka who scored 11 goals in 40 games in all competitions last seasons.

His price tag is considered excessive by the French side but they are hoping to beat it down with further talks planned later this week. If the move happens he will be reunited with his close friend and also national team teammate in Moses Simon.

Simon was Olayinka’s best man when he got married last year and the pair have a very good relationship which dates back to when they first met in the camp of the U20 team of Nigeria. They were later teammates at Belgium side Gent for two years.

English Premier League side Leicester City have started the process of getting a replacement for Nigeria international midfielder Wilfred Nididi after his injury set back.

Ndidi has not played for City since March, when a 50-50 challenge against Rennes left him needing surgery on his knee. The injury and  recovery time from the operation ruled him out for the final few months of last season, and while he returned for pre season training, he didn’t play against Notts County and also against OH Leuven on Saturday.

Coach Brendan Rodgers said that the Nigerian picked up an ankle injury in training at the club’s pre-season camp in Evian. Following a scan, it is hoped he will be able to return to training later this week.

“We’ve got one or two knocks,” Rodgers told LCFC TV. “Wilf’s twisted his ankle in training a few days ago. We don’t think it’s too serious.

“It’s a high ankle sprain, so he had a scan on it and it’ll hopefully be okay. We’ve just looked after him really, he won’t be involved at the weekend, but of course, hopefully next week at some point he’ll be back training.

The coach is however planning on getting an alternative to the Nigerian who has not had the best of injury record since 2018. When he suffered an injury that almost kept him out of the World Cup. Already he has set the wheel in motion to identify and also sign other players who can play in the position of the Nigerian.

The future of several players is now very much in the open as various teams continue preparations for the new seasons by playing pre season games with players in the plans of the manager.

Players not in the plans of the coaches of several teams ahead of next season have rarely featured in pre season games this so far. The story is same for many Nigerian players and a new player has joined the list.

Ademola Lookman doesn’t seem to be in the plans of coach of RB Leipzig Domenico Tedesco following his return from a season long loan at English Premier League side Leicester City.

Despite glowing reports by the manager about the 24 year old at the start of pre season training, it’s unlikely that he has a future at the club hence the decision not to hand him minutes in the 1-3 friendly loss against Southampton despite the fact that they fielded almost three different teams.

Signed for €18m from Everton in 2019, he has spent the last two seasons on loan to Fulham and Leicester City respectively after failing to impress two previous RB Leipzig coaches in Julian Nagelsmann as well as his successor Jesse Marsch.

It is believed that at Leicester City where he scored 6 goals in 26 games last season, the idea was to sign him permanently but the fee required to sign him is said to be on the high side. His salary demand is also another issue as he wants to earn as much as he presently earns at RB Leipzig.

Italian Serie A side Salernitana have stepped up their plans to beef up their sqaud for the new season by holding talks with players who can improve their squad after finishing 17th last season.

They achieved their main aim for the season which was to remain in the Serie A following promotion to the top division but the aim for next season is a mid table finish. Hence their drive to get in quality players.

According to Italian media outlet Corriere dello Sport , they have set their sight on Nigeria international forward Terem Moffi but the price tag of the 23 year old is said to be a huge obstruction to the deal.

Moffi is valued at around €20m by Lorient and this was communicated to the sporting director De Sanctis during a meeting with the player’s representative which took place in London. Bologna are also in for the forward who has two senior international goal for Nigeria.

At club level he didn’t match the standard he set in his first season with Lorient as he scored just 8 goals last season, six less than his tally of 14 goals in his debut Ligue 1 season following his move from Belgium side Kortrijk.

English Premier League side Crystal Palace are presently on a training tour of Singapore and Australia but without nine first team players, some due to fitness while others failed to meet entry requirements as at when travel arrangements were made.

Travellers entering Singapore have to be fully vaccinated same as Australia but the restrictions were lifted earlier this month. A little bit too late for Palace to include some of their first team players in their squad.

Coach Patrick Viera ensured that the senior players left behind in London which includes Wilfred Zaha, Eberechi Eze, Christian Benteke, Marc Guehi and new signing Cheick Doucore gets sufficient game time to catch up with their mates on tour.

To that effect they played a game against Ipswich Town with young Nigerian goalkepper Owen Olamidayo Goodman getting his first team piece of action. He was in goal for the first 45 minutes of the 4-2 win.

Goodman has in the past voiced out his preference to play for Nigeria even though he is eligible for England and Canada. The 18 year old was born in Canada to a Nigerian mother and a British father.

He however feels more inclined to playing for Nigeria and even met with Nigeria football legend Kanu Nwankwo when he came to Canada.

“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.

This will no doubt put him on the radar of the coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro who is keen on growing his pool of options in the goalkepping department of the team.

Nigeria international winger Moses Simon is back in training with French Ligue 1 side Nantes but there is still a huge doubt about his future at the club with two years left on his deal.

Simon finished last season on a high by leading Nantes to the French Cup title, their first in over twenty years, he also impressed for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and in the process earned himself a spot in the nomination list for the Africa footballer of the year award.

He missed out on the final ten man shortlist for the award but teams are still keen on having the forward in their sqaud for next season moreso that this absence for a while from Nantes pre season led to talks of the 26 year old pushing a move.

His future has dominated discussions with reported interest from three English Premier League side in Leeds United, Newcastle United and Brighton and Hove Albion. He is however still at Nantes with OGC Nice the only team reported to have put in an official bid for him.

The bid was rejected by Nantes but recent reports had is that he isn’t keen on a move to any team in the English Premier League, and it was out forward to Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman during the course of his radio show on Liberty Radio Kaduna.

Mowiz has a very good relationship with the forward and a listener asked why Simon isn’t keen on a move to the English Premier League preferring to remain in France even if he leaves Nantes.

” There are several issues attached to that move. It’s Simon’s dream to play in the English Premier League like every other football player but there are issues like family that he has to put into consideration hence the preference to remain in France. Maybe he is also waiting for PSG. That’s a joke anyway”, he said.

Scottish giants Rangers are back shopping for another Nigerian player after losing the three Nigerian players who were full blown international during the ongoing summer transfer window.

Leon Balogun wasn’t offered a new deal while Joe Aribo was sold to Southampton. Calvin Bassey is the latest to leave the club with a fee in the region of €22m agreed with Dutch giants Ajax for his signing.

Already the club have swung into action for potential replacement for the above mentioned players, and ex Nigeria U15 midfielder Thompson Ishaka has placed himself in pole position to replace Aribo with his performance while on trials.

17 year Ishaka came to the fore in youth football in England with two goals in the final of the U18 English Schools Football Association. He scored a smashing brace for Leicester City Brooke House College in a 3-1 win over London Nautical College, the youth academy of English Premier League side Crystal Palace.

He has now impressed during a trial spell with Rangers B, leaving Elgin City’s Darryl McHardy “having nightmares” after the youngsters ran out 4-0 winners in a pre season friendly. And his performance during the clash has also got Gers fans talking despite playing for just 55 minutes.

A deal is said to be imminent for the teen left footed winger who can play in a role on either flanks, behind the striker or even in a wingback role. Aside Rangers, teams across England and elsewhere in Europe are also monitoring him. He is managed by a joint team of Johnny Precious Ogbah and Errol Olumide.

The future of Nigeria international forward Sadiq Umar is far from resolved with his Spanish side Almeria not willing to drop their asking price for the lanky 25 year old.

Sadiq powered the team to La Liga promotion finishing as top scorer for the second consecutive year he has been at the club. That has as expected alerted top clubs in Europe who have now shown interest in signing him.

So far three offers have come in for Sadiq but none has reached the €30m price tag slammed on him by Almeria. The fee is €30m less than his buy out clause of €60m in his contract which has three more years to run.

Almeria decided to slash the buy out clause to help the forward get his dream move as he agreed to remain at the club and helped the team to promotion despite having offers from some top teams in the La Liga.

Serie A side Atalanta are the only team abroad to have slap in a bid for him with a fee of €18m. Which was outrightly rejected by Almeria. Getafe also have an offer of €16m on the table of Almeria to consider while keeping 50% of his future transfer. Like that of Atalanta it was rejected.

Teams like Real Sociedad, Villarreal, Sevilla and Valencia have all made enquiries but none have formally lodged a big although Villarreal have made a verbal proposal of €15m and as a player. Their proposal was communicated to the entourage of the player.

They were told the fee is insufficient and since then they haven’t returned with an improved offer. Sadiq on his part isn’t opposed to staying at the club for another season but will no doubt he tempted with a move to Sevilla, as he is keen on reuniting with Monchi who was his sporting director at Roma plus also play in the UEFA Champions League but they have received no official offer yet.

While teams are working on how to lure the Nigerian. Almeria have made it clear that they won’t go below the €30m price tag and want it in one installment with several achievable add ons expected to be embedded in the deal.

Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey had agreed a five year deal with Dutch giants Ajax according to a technical staff of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Ajax are among the teams battling for his signature with Brighton and Hove Albion also keen on pricing him from Scottish side Rangers. The defender however picked Ajax as his next career destination and a fee of around €20m is said to have been agreed between both parties.

The fee goes into the record books as the highest sale ever by the Scottish side smashing the €14m Everton paid for Nathan Patterson in January. He will sign a five year deal we gathered from our source.

” He isn’t in Rangers squad for their pre season game because the move is 90% done. What is left is a routine medical and it will be made official by next week if all goes as expected. It’s a five year deal”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive chat.

He said Bassey picked Ajax because of the promise of regular first team football with a spot for him already sure as he will fill the void created by the exit of Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United. They both play in same role either as left back or left centre back.

Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam have made the first step towards replacing Lisandro Martinez who is expected to join Manchester United in the coming hours per several reports.

However their quest is not plain sailing as expected with their prime target also courting interest from an English Premier League team in Brighton and Hove Albion. It’s slowly turning into a bidding war for Nigeria international defender Calvin Bassey.

Bassey was excellent for Scottish side Rangers all through their campaign in the Europa League where they got to the final. He has also cemented his spot in the senior national team of Nigeria. That form hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Ajax have slapped in a bid of £19m, £3m more than Brighton’s offer for the Nigeria international but both bids falls below the valuation of Rangers who want £25m. Both teams are hoping to negotiate the price down to what they feel is the player’s worth.

Rangers are not opposed to letting him leave but they will want a value that is close to what they think the 23 year old is worth after his performances last season. They are also counting on him for next season.