As Taiwo Awoniyi settles down to life in his new surroundings at Nottingham Forest following his move from German side Union Berlin, ace English Premier League writer Adrian Clarke has given his opinion on the record signing.

Awoniyi smashed another transfer record when he moved to Nottingham Forest same like he did when he moved to Union Berlin from Liverpool. In both instances he was the club’s record signing.

With pre season now in full swing, Clarke gave possible reasons why the 24 year old will be a hit at the newly promoted English Premier League side when the season gets underway.

“Awoniyi is extremely similar to Keinan Davis, who proved the ideal foil for Johnson last term while on loan from Aston Villa”, he wrote in his article for the official website of the English Premier League.

“The summer signing scored an impressive 15 Bundesliga goals for Union Berlin in 2021/22, a side who averaged only 43.3 per cent possession.

“Leading the line for a Forest team who will also build their play for turnovers and counter-attacks, the former Liverpool forward’s physique and running power means he has the potential to function equally well for his new club”, he stated.

“Last season was his breakthrough year, scoring 20 goals for Union Berlin in all competitions, including four in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

To succeed at the City Ground, Awoniyi must hit the ground running and build on the confidence he has right now.

From a tactical perspective he is tailor-made to shine at the top end of the pitch for Forest”, he concluded.

As many as six players who were born abroad were keen on playing for the senior national team of Nigeria if they had made it to the Qatar 2022 World Cup according to a highly placed official in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Nigeria were unfortunate to lose out to Ghana on away goal rule after drawing 1-1 with Ghana in Abuja three days after a 0-0 away in Kumasi. The result ended their hopes of making it to the World Cup in Qatar.

That failure has cost Nigeria the services of some players born abroad who were willing to switch allegiance to Nigeria even though some of them they have played for other countries. Ghana who made it at the expense of Nigeria have since been successfully with five to six players pledging allegiance to the Black Stars.

Reacting, a chieftain of the NFF said its the fallout of qualifying for the World Cup that has made Ghana attractive to those players, and same would have been the case if Nigeria had made it to the World Cup.

” We had at least six who were already details away from joining us for the World Cup proper then the unfortunate happened. I know for sure that the duo of Jordan Torunarigha and Felix Uduokhai both youth international for Germany was as good as done”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” Rohr was advanced with them before he was sacked. Then the president of the NFF Amaju Pinnick has a chat with Tosin Adarabioyo and it ended in a positive note. We also got confirmation from the duo of Ebere Eze and Michael Olise on speaking after the qualifiers.

” Then there was Felix Agu. Talks were really quick with him. We hope to revisit the discussion when the new coach settles down because it’s his call to make ahead of us”, he concluded.

With so many players using the opportunity of the summer transfer window to switch teams, a lot of movement is expected in the coming days especially from players who are not sure of getting games or seeking for fresh challenge.

For Nigerian players it has been a slow window with the expectation that things pick up in the coming days as we reach the business end of the window. However Henry Onyekuru has already sorted his future.

Deemed surplus to requirements at Greek side Olympiacos after joining them a year ago on a permanent transfer from Ligue 1 side Monaco. He ended last season with just a goal and one assists in 27 games in all competitions.

The 25 year old has joined Adana Demirspor on a loan deal that empowers the Turkish team to make it permanent at the end of next season. He will be teammate to Italian maverick Mario Balotelli.

As players continue to work their way to full fitness ahead of the start of next season, many are wary of sustaining injuries which could keep them out either for the long term or a short while.

One player who happens to be unlucky as it came at a time where he has been tipped to have his breakthrough season is former Nigeria U17 captain and two cap Super Eagles midfielder Samson Tijani.

After his steady progress with the B team FC Liefering last season, he returned for pre season training with the main team and has been involved in all of their pre season games until he got injured against Feyenoord.

His club RB Salzburg announced that he will be missing for the entirety of next season after suffering a fractured fibula and tibia in their friendly game yesterday. A huge blow to the 20 year old.

The injury will also dent his chances of playing himself into the plans of new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro, after missing out on a chance to impress the coach owing to his failure to secure travelling visa for the friendly games in the United States of America.

Relegated English Premier League side Watford played their second pre season game ahead of their campaign in the English Championship next season.

The team stepped up their preparation by moving to Austria where they will play couple of games before returning back to England for final round of preparations.

They took on Greek side Panathinaikos earlier today in one of the games they will play in Austria and it had as many as four Nigerians playing for the London side.

It ended in a goalless draw with the quartet of Tom Dele Bashiru, Maduka Okoye, Joseph Hungbo and Samuel Kalu all getting a run out. The latter trio were all introduced as second half substitutes.

Dele-Bashiru who was a part of the 2019 Nigeria U20 team made a positive impression on the coaches and was largely crowned man of the match by fans of the team, who streamed the game live.

He lasted the entire duration of the game and showed he is back to the form he had before suffering a cruciate ligament injury which kept him out for over a year. He spent last season on loan to Reading as part of plans to help him build his fitness and also rediscover his fitness.

A strong showing when the season gets underway will no doubt put him in the frame for a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria under new coach Jose Peseiro.

An Ikeja High Court has ordered for the arrest and detainment of Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen for contempt, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Osimhen has several disobeyed the court orders for him to appear and state his part in the allegations against him brought forward by his in-law and ex agent Osita Okolo. The allegations bothered on commissions from his move to Napoli.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, Okolo was part of the team behind Osimhen’s move to Napoli for a fee of around €71.2m, but that amount is currently been disputed by an investigation into the deal by the Italian and French authorities.

We exclusively gathered that William D’Avilla who was the main act in brokering the deal was due a commission of €5m from which he will pay Osita €1.3m. D’Avilla paid Osita $450k and another €91k.

According to what we gathered Osimhen collected the $439k and €89k paid to Osita saying he wants to use it to settle other family members and will return the cash to his In-law when he is settled in Italy.

Osimhen didn’t return the cash as promised and in November, Osita went public with it in an interview where he said that the 23 year old should take care of his family members. That didn’t go down well with Osimhen who texted him to say he won’t have him as his agent anymore.

On the 4th of January precisely he paid Osita €20,000 from what he collected from him meaning he is now owing him around $439 and €69,000. The dispute has landed the duo in court with Osita insisting on getting his money in full.

The court issued the warrant for Osimhen’s arrest after he failed to turn up or send his representatives on the dates the case was fixed for hearing. He shunned the four times he has been asked to appear in the court even though he was in Nigeria at the time.

In Nigeria, individuals who are guilty of shunning court orders are most times punished with jail terms per what we gathered from people who are conversant with how the law works in Nigeria.

Aside his case with Okolo, his first agent Jean-Gerard Benoit Czajka has also sued him for €5m as part of what he is due from the move to Napoli considering he started the move.

Portuguese league champions FC Porto returned to training few days ago with the compliment of almost all of their players including Nigeria international left back Zaidu Sanusi.

The team will be looking to freshen up their squad in several areas with the departure of around three key players who were part of the title success last time out. Porto will also begin the process of identifying and signing players who will take over from some of their ageing squad members.

Portugal international Pepe who will turn 40 next year February is among the players they will be open to scouting for possible replacement for before the end of the current summer transfer window.

Little known Nigerian defender Michael Ologo who stands at an impressive height of almost 2 metres tall is high on their priority list after an impressive season in Turkey. Reports even suggest that talks have started already for the 19 year old.

He was the rock in the defence for Istanbulspor helping them to gain promotion to the top division. He played in 25 of their league games in the regular season and a further two during the promotion play off.

His quick adaptation to life in Turkey hasn’t gone unnoticed by Porto who were among the teams interested in him before his move to Turkey following a report from one of their scouts.

As English Premier League side Arsenal step up their preparation for the new season, the future of several players will also be decided by coach Mikel Arteta before the end of the summer transfer window.

In the goalkepping department, the Gunners have added Matt Turner who is expected to be the back up goalkepper to first choice Aaron Ramsdale with Bern Leno expected to leave soon.

Karl Hein has been tipped to be the third choice goalkepper, a role that Arthur Okonkwo had last season but now seemingly look set to leave on loan to gain more first team experience.

Okonkwo is still eligible for Nigeria and as per a source close to the 20 year old shot stopper he will be open to the idea of representing Nigeria once his next chapter of his club career becomes clear.

For now his focus is on his club future which is away from Arsenal, where he is highly rated but the hope is to put himself in the frame for a Super Eagles chance under Peseiro by doing well at his loan club.

An Ikeja High Court has ordered for the arrest and detainment of Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen for contempt, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Osimhen has several disobeyed the court orders for him to appear and state his part in the allegations against him brought forward by his in-law and ex agent Osita Okolo. The allegations bothered on commissions from his move to Napoli.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, Okolo was part of the team behind Osimhen’s move to Napoli for a fee of around €71.2m, but that amount is currently been disputed by an investigation into the deal by the Italian and French authorities.

We exclusively gathered that William D’Avilla who was the main act in brokering the deal was due a commission of €5m from which he will pay Osita €1.3m. D’Avilla paid Osita $450k and another €91k.

According to what we gathered Osimhen collected the $439k and €89k paid to Osita saying he wants to use it to settle other family members and will return the cash to his In-law when he is settled in Italy.

Osimhen didn’t return the cash as promised and in November, Osita went public with it in an interview where he said that the 23 year old should take care of his family members. That didn’t go down well with Osimhen who texted him to say he won’t have him as his agent anymore.

On the 4th of January precisely he paid Osita €20,000 from what he collected from him meaning he is now owing him around $439 and €69,000. The dispute has landed the duo in court with Osita insisting on getting his money in full.

The court issued the warrant for Osimhen’s arrest after he failed to turn up or send his representatives on the dates the case was fixed for hearing. He shunned the four times he has been asked to appear in the court even though he was in Nigeria at the time.

In Nigeria, individuals who are guilty of shunning court orders are most times punished with jail terms per what we gathered from people who are conversant with how the law works in Nigeria.

Aside his case with Okolo, his first agent Jean-Gerard Benoit Czajka has also sued him for €5m as part of what he is due from the move to Napoli considering he started the move.