French Ligue 1 side Nantes want Nigeria international winger Moses Simon to shun any move to a team in same league with them as they come to terms with the fact that he will leave the club this summer, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Simon is leaning towards staying in France largely due to family reasons despite offers from around three teams in England namely Newcastle United, Brighton and Hove Albion as well as Leeds United.

Already OGC Nice have failed with a bid of €10m for the 26 year old Nigerian with Nantes insisting on €15m but the fee doesn’t seem to be the only problem as they are unwilling to sell him to a direct rival.

His representatives have been told by Nantes to prioritise a move to a team abroad preferably the English Premier League, where he is a target for three teams as said above.

We exclusively gathered that more talks will be held between his representatives and the club to find a common ground as the 2021 Africa Player of the year nominee has been a faithful servant to the club.

Former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has given his opinion on the possible reason why the senior national team of Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

Mikel retired from international football after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations where the team finished with a bronze. He is also close to retiring from football after leaving Kuwaiti side Kuwait SC.

Back in Nigeria for a charity event, Mikel took out time to speak with Nigerian journalist Femi Solaja in an interview which was published on the electronic version of Nigerian news outlet Thisday.

Asked on why he think the Super Eagles didn’t make it to Qatar after losing the play off to Ghana on away goal rule, he narrowed it down to a lack of true leader in the team.

“I was busy with my kids putting them to bed before the match and at match time, I searched all the channels and could not pick it and I had to rely to monitoring online. It was really painful that we did not qualify because it’s been a long time, we experienced non qualification (Germany 2006 finals)”, he said.

” It was strange and felt really sad because I can’t imagine watching the FIFA World Cup without Nigeria and it’s even more painful to lose the chance of qualification at home. It is strange and I just hope we have learnt some lessons by looking forward to the next four years. I remembered the last edition in Russia when we even qualified with almost three matches to the end of the qualifying round of matches.

“We were motivated, we had a direction on the pitch we had a leader on the pitch. All the 11 players were listening to only one man on the pitch not many leaders in the pitch. We need a leader on the pitch for others to follow. You don’t need five leaders but just one because when you have four or five people giving instructions on the pitch that it not a unit”,he concluded.

Following claims made by a member of the media department of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ayo Olu Ibidapo on Maduka Okoye’s Super Eagles future and picked up by several media outlet. We hereby present the audio interview where the goalkepper trainer of the Super Eagles Ike Shorunmu made the claims about the new Watford goalkepper.

The first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria Maduka Okoye has not opened a line of communication with the present technical crew of the Nigerian team led by Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Okoye hasn’t kept goal for Nigeria since the round of 16 exit at the Africa Cup of Nations where he was roundly blamed for the lone goal Tunisia scored which sent Nigeria packing from the tournament.

He skipped the subsequent World Cup qualifiers playoff claiming to have tested positive to Covid 19. Ghana edged Nigeria to the World Cup ticket by away goal rule after a 0-0 draw in Kumasi and 1-1 draw in Nigeria.

That result ended the interim reign of Austin Eguavoen as coach of the team with Jose Peseiro appointed as the new man in charge of the team. A new goalkepper trainer Ike Shorunmu was also appointed in place of Alloy Agu.

In an interview with Fresh FM, Shorunmu explained how they tried to get across to Okoye but to no avail. That it was through a friend of the goalkepper that they got to find out that he wants a break to focus on his new club Watford.

Till date they still haven’t had any form of contact with the goalkepper, who has already resumed pre season training with his new team in the English Championship. He is however in line to miss out on next set of call up for the September round of games.

“Well first he is still part of the team but then we called him during the end of the season , last season before we travel to America. That is for the two friends that we played in America. The secretary of the team told me they tried to reach him but they couldn’t get him”, he explained in an interview on Fresh FM.

” I collected the number from him. I called too, I couldn’t reach him but about three days after, the secretary of the team now told me he has got him through a friend on message. He now said to me that the guy now asked for him to be out of the team for now because he has made a move to a new club and wants to concentrate on his new club. I said okay no problem”, he concluded.

Former Nigeria U17, U20 and U23 captain Kelechi Nwakali has turned down the chance of joining Swiss Champions FC Zurich, Owngoalnigeria.com understands.

Nwakali was sacked by Spanish side Huesca for returning late to the team from international duties after representing Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations. He claimed sickness was responsible for his late arrival.

Huesca at the end of their investigation insisted on terminating his contract and it led to a legal dispute at the end of last season. Reports in Spain suggests he lost out to the Spanish team in court.

FC Zurich who will be playing in the UEFA Champions League made a swoop for him but the move broke down due to his financial demands which is above what the Swiss side is proposing according to Spanish website Dario Sport.

They want to pay him €23,000 a month but his representatives turned down the Swiss side offer and will now look for other options with reports that he is leaning more to staying in Spain.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says CAF player of the year nominee Moses Simon deserve his spot in the list of 30 players released by the football governing body.

Yesterday the preliminary list of players for the CAF award was made public by CAF and Simon, who was Nigeria’s best player at the Africa Cup of Nations and also had a fantastic year by leading his club Nantes to league glory was handed a spot.

Simon was the only Nigerian nominated for the award and that has led to talks about the standard of football in the country but Rohr insist that base on the criteria used Simon deserve his spot in the list.

“I saw it and I can say it’s well deserved. Simon has been the best player for the team for the past one year. I remember how he sacrifice everything to play for the good of the team. AFCON was used and he was the best Nigerian player in the year under review”, the coach told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” Several talented players like Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Nididi and more but on what was used. You have to give it to Simon. He was outstanding all through the year for club and country”, he concluded.

The foundation of the president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick has successfully helped replaced the kness of ex Nigeria international Etim Esin.

Esin cried out for help over the knee injury which has left him on a wheel chair for a while and Pinnick via his foundation came to his help by paying for his surgery reportedly worth around 20 million Naira.

The surgery took place in Lagos at The Well Plus Medicals located in Lekki. The entire bill plus other medical expenses were sorted by Pinnick, who we gathered used proceeds he gets from his role at CAF and FIFA to fund his foundation.

We further gathered that he uses five percent from his profits in all of his business to also fund and run the foundation.

Esin, a former Flying Eagles and Super Eagles midfielder is one among those who have benefited from the leadership of the NFF. Wilson Oruma, Femi Opabunmi and Christian Chukwu complete the list.

Also the chairman of the League Management Company (LMC) who also doubles as the vice president of the NFF paid the medical bills of ex Nigeria youth international Kazeem Yebsaya. Who was suffering from mental illness but he is now stable.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has revealed the reason behind his decision to hand a first time call up to out of favour Super Eagles winger Samuel Kalu.

Kalu was handed his first call up to the Nigerian team by Rohr in 2018 when he was on the verge of completing a big money move from Gent of Belgium to Ligue 1 side Bordeaux.

Rohr said he didn’t play a role in the winger’s move to Bordeaux but was contacted by the club to cap him for Nigeria in order to him to be able to play for them in Ligue 1.

“He did not come (to France) on my advice,” Rohr told AquiTélé as per Girondins4ever. The Girondins brought him before I was hired (by Nigeria), before asking me to also provide him with a (Super Eagles) A selection. It was essential for his contract to be approved (laughs).

“I only came afterwards to select him. At the time, to approve a contract for an African player, he had to be an international in his country, which was not the case before”.

He went further to say the Watford winger is among the best dribblers in Europe but can’t understand why he hasn’t hit the height his talent commands. According to Rohr he lost confidence while at Bordeaux.

“But Samuel Kalu was an excellent dribbler, one of the best dribblers in Europe. He had impressive dribbling stats. I think that, unfortunately, they didn’t know. There were also a lot of coaches. Kalu had still played quite a bit with Paulo Sousa at one point; then, I saw some good matches with Jean-Louis Gasset.

“Then there was no longer that confidence he needs to make a difference. He’s a sensitive player.”

The first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria Maduka Okoye has not opened a line of communication with the present technical crew of the Nigerian team led by Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Okoye hasn’t kept goal for Nigeria since the round of 16 exit at the Africa Cup of Nations where he was roundly blamed for the lone goal Tunisia scored which sent Nigeria packing from the tournament.

He skipped the subsequent World Cup qualifiers playoff claiming to have tested positive to Covid 19. Ghana edged Nigeria to the World Cup ticket by away goal rule after a 0-0 draw in Kumasi and 1-1 draw in Nigeria.

That result ended the interim reign of Austin Eguavoen as coach of the team with Jose Peseiro appointed as the new man in charge of the team. A new goalkepper trainer Ike Shorunmu was also appointed in place of Alloy Agu.

In an interview with Fresh FM, Shorunmu explained how they tried to get across to Okoye but to no avail. That it was through a friend of the goalkepper that they got to find out that he wants a break to focus on his new club Watford.

Till date they still haven’t had any form of contact with the goalkepper, who has already resumed pre season training with his new team in the English Championship. He is however in line to miss out on next set of call up for the September round of games.

“Well first he is still part of the team but then we called him during the end of the season , last season before we travel to America. That is for the two friendly that we played in America. The secretary of the team told me they tried to reach him but they couldn’t get him”, he explained in an interview on Fresh FM.

” I collected the number from him. I called too, I couldn’t reach him but about three days after, the secretary of the team now told me he has got him through a friend on message. He now said to me that the guy now asked for him to be out of the team for now because he has made a move to a new club and want to concentrate on his new club. I said okay no problem”, he concluded.

Chelsea and Cote d’Ivoire legend Didier Drogba has confessed his love for Napoli and Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen has severally referred to the Ivorian as his role model right from when he burst onto the scene as a 16 year old at the 2015 U17 World Cup. Upon turning 18 he  joined German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg.

He didn’t quite get going for two years until he made  a loan move to Belgium side Charleroi. That season saw him grow in leaps and bounds and earned him a move to French Ligue 1 side Lille.

After a year at Lille, he moved to Napoli for a record transfer fee two seasons ago. He has scored double digits goals in both seasons despite battling with injuries and fitness issues. Drogba was asked about his opinion on the 23 year old in a video interview made available to the editorial team of OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Interviewer: Today there is a great striker at Napoli Victor Osimhen, he said you are his legend.

Drogba: Yeah. I like him a lot. Great striker.

Interviewer: Do you think he can become one of the first in the world in the future?

Drogba: Yes he can. Everything is possible in football and when you have a talent like he is got. I think it’s just a question of momentum.