Little known Nigerian teen prospect Depo Mebude showed why he is so highly rated at English Championship side Watford with a brilliant solo goal during the team’s training.

Watford are in Austria for pre season training and Mebude who spent last season on loan to AFC Wimbledon in the English League One, a level below where Watford will play next season is part of the sqaud.

The club posted a video of their session and the 20 year old showed quick feet to evade his markers during a drill before slotting effortlessly past Maduka Okoye. The exiled first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria.

Mebude has represented Scotland at U17, U19 and U21 level but he did show his Nigerian affiliation when he posed with the other Nigerians at the club in a photo with the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick.

Okoye is teaming up with the team after spending last season on loan to Sparta Rotterdam, where he was signed last season. He hasn’t hit the expected heights so far with fans unimpressed about the goal he conceded in their 1-3 pre season loss against Cambridge United.

As players continue to switch clubs in the ongoing transfer window, it’s somehow surprising that only few Nigerian players have made the news lately over a move.

The transfer window still has two months to go but one Nigerian player who appears to have sorted his future is 23 year old defender Valentine Ozornwafor who has three caps for the senior national team of Nigeria.

According to OJB Sports, Valentine won’t be signed permanently by Belgium side Charleroi following the expiration of his loan deal as they didn’t take up the option of signing him permanently. He will return to Galatasaray.

His return to the club will see him leave almost immediately to French second division side Sochaux, who narrowly missed out on promotion to Ligue 1 at the end of season according to OJB Sports.

The move when concluded will be his third loan spell away from Galatasaray since he joined on a five year contract in 2019 from Nigeria Professional Football League side Enyimba.

As the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro settles down to his role and the process of returning the team back to where they rightfully belong, new players are expected to be part of the team.

Peseiro said upon arrival that he wants to focus on the players in the team but didn’t rule out calling up new players. With the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations now postponed till 2024, the coach now has time to try out new players in certain areas.

One name on his list of potential invitees is Saviour Godwin, a former Nigeria junior international who took the Portuguese second division by storm by leading Casa Pia to the top division for the first time in 83 years.

Godwin was voted Man of the match in 8 games last season, more than any other player with his 11 goals and five assists earning him more praises and eventually the best player of the league award.

He was asked if he thinks he stands a chance of joining the likes of Zaidu Sanusi and Chidozie Awaziem in the senior national team of Nigeria, and he said it’s about doing well now that he is going to play in the top division in Portugal.

“National teams always put their radar first in the top divisions. It would be a great privilege for me to play in the Premier League. In terms of visibility it will be good, because from there anything can happen. If I do well, the team can see me. If not, when I do well, because I know I’m going to do well”, Godwin told zerozero.pt.

In a bid to revive his once upon a time fledging career that saw him win the best goalkepper at the 2013 U17 World Cup, Dele Alampasu has joined Malta top division side Pieta Hotspurs on a one year deal.

The 25-year-old joins the Maltese Premier League club to activate his international career. He has had multiple call ups to the senior national team of Nigeria, the last of which came in 2020.

Alampasu, who has 8 caps for Nigeria at youth level will be hoping to revive his once promising career in Malta. He has been invited to the Super Eagles on a couple of occasions.

The one cap Super Eagles goalie came through Future Stars and Abuja Football College ranks and joined Estoril U19 in July 2015. He then cross carpet to Feirense one month later.

In 2016, he joined Cesarense on loan before returning to Feirense who sold him to Ventspils on 13th February 2020.

Nigeria international midfielder Joe Aribo is few details away from completing a switch to English Premier League side Southampton for a fee reported to be in the region of £10m.

Aribo was signed from English Championship side Charlton Athletic for around £300,000 three years ago and he has since turned out to be a bargain buy for the Gers, who were beaten finalist in last season Europa League.

With one year left to run on his deal, he turned down a contract extension and in order to lose him for free next season, Rangers decided to cash in on the Nigerian.

Despite what looks like a significant profit base on the amount he was sold, former Nigeria international Efe Ambrose believe his price tag isn’t reflective of his current status.

” I heard he is going for £10m, that’s cheap if true. Very cheap and I think Rangers miss a trick with him. He is worth much more than that in my opinion. That’s a £30m player getting sold for £10m. Southampton will be shocked to see his quality because it’s much more than his price tag”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive conversation on Aribo’s planned move to Southampton.

France Ligue 1 side Lorient now have three Nigerian players on their books as they begin plans for next season following the start of pre season training.

Aside the duo of Innocent Bonke and Terem Moffi, Lorient also added Taofeek Ismaheel to their squad, a winger they signed from Norwegian side Fredrikstad in January and decided to send him on loan to fellow Norwegian side Valerenga.

Taofeek has now joined the rest of the team in pre season training and Bonke has taken him under his wings ensuring that he settles on time. ” He (Taofeek) will stay with me until he is able to secure an apartment of his own. I told him to leave the hotel where he put up upon arrival. The idea is to help him settle on time”, Bonke told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive chat.

” It’s pure joy for me to see another Nigerian here with me. Now we are three and I have told him what to do if he wants to establish himself as a regular. My dream is for all three of us to be in the team all the time”, he rounded up saying.

Nigeria international forward Emmanuel Dennis wasn’t among the players of relegated English Premier League side Watford who are currently having a pre season camp in Austria.

Ahead of their campaign in the English Championship, Watford are in Austria for a  six-day pre-season training camp, which concludes on Sunday with the club’s second pre-season friendly against Greek side Panathinaikos.

They arrived Austria without their top scorer Emmanuel Dennis who they are keen on offloading in order to raise cash which will be invested in the team as they bid to gain promotion back to the English Premier League.

The move is a way of telling interested teams that the 24 year old is not in their plans hence they can get him but Watford want a fee of around £20m and so far they have not been any offer for him.

Rumours about interest from Premier League duo Everton and West Ham is still mere paper talk as they have not been any official bid for the forward who scored 10 goals and provided six assists.

Southampton are in negotiations to sign Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo, The Athletic understands.

The versatile 25-year-old is believed to be keen on joining Ralf Hassenhuttl’s side and the clubs are now working to agree a fee.

Aribo’s contract has always included a £10 million release clause and it is understood that Rangers will not accept a total package below that value.

Although one other club are talking to the Scottish team, Southampton are confident of securing the Nigeria international and a deal spanning at least four years is being prepared.

As the transfer window continue to witness more activities, the future of Nigeria international forward Sadiq Umar at Almeria is far from certain, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Sadiq is tipped to leave the club before the end of the current transfer window with Villarreal locked in talks with Almeria over his potential signing. Both teams are still €5m apart in their valuation of the 25 year old.

The Almeria top scorer for two consecutive seasons isn’t in any way bothered about his future insisting that he is very comfortable at his present club but doesn’t know what the future holds. ” If you ask me where I will be playing next season, I will tell you Almeria but honestly speaking I don’t know what the future holds”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com in Kaduna where is back on holiday.

Sources close to the player revealed that he is open to the idea of joining Villarreal if both teams can agree on a fee but at the same time the lure of UEFA Champions League on offer at Sevilla might be too tempting to refuse.

However, Sevilla are yet to make an official bid for him but the player’s camp believe it’s a matter of time before the offer arrives particularly with the departure of Luuk De Jong from the club. For now it’s Villarreal who are in the driving seat but a deal is far from agreed between both parties.