Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr is of the opinion that Napoli and Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen can replace Robert Lewandoski at Bayern Munich.

Lewandoski is currently pushing for an exit from the Bavarians with his desire solely on joining Barcelona. Both teams are still yet to find an agreement with reports saying three bids from Barcelona have been rejected.

In an interview with Bild Rohr is of the opinion that Osimhen will be the perfect replacement for Lewandoski if he eventually gets his wish to leave the team. Rohr cited the fact that Osimhen spent his formative year in Germany will be an added advantage.

Rohr said: “If Bayern let Robert Lewandowski go, Victor would be a good alternative.

“I think he would prevail in Munich. Since he already has experience in the Bundesliga and speaks a little German, his adjustment period is, of course, shorter than with other players from abroad.”

The goalkepper trainer of the senior national team of Nigeria Ike Shorunmu has praised Akwa United shot stopper Adewale Adeyinka over his performance while with the team.

Former Nigeria U17 goalkepper Adeyinka trained with the senior national team of Nigeria in the last four games namely the friendly games against Mexico and Ecuador respectively and the first two AFCON 2023 qualifiers against Sierra Leone and Sao Paulo and Principe.

He appears to have made an impression on Shorunmu as he specifically mentioned him while speaking on the competition for the number one spot of the team which he said is presently the sole reserve of Francis Uzoho. Although he said the spot is still open for all.

“The last two games we played, He was the number one but the spot is still open”, he said in an interview on Fresh FM.

” I saw a lot of positive things in the goalkeppers that’s why we retained Adeyinka Adewale and it’s a thing of process . You can’t just come in and say you want to be number one. People understand how I started in the national team.

” I had a lot of experience goalkeppers ahead of me and I learn a lot from Peter Rufai, the late Wilfred Agbonibare and Alloy Agu. So for sure they are our Nigerian goalkepper and they have a lot of qualities in them but it’s a process thing”, he concluded.

On the issue of new Watford goalkepper Maduka Okoye, Shorunmu said the goalkepper asked to be left alone to focus on his new club when he was called up for the last round of games of the team.

“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.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has listed three players of the senior national team of Nigeria among the best he has ever handled in his career.

Rohr was sacked as coach of the Nigerian team in December after six years at the helm but he still had fond memories of his time as coach of the Nigerian team despite how his tenure ended.

The coach was unceremoniously axed minutes few minutes after qualifying Nigeria for the World Cup qualifiers playoff by finishing as group leaders in the group stages of the qualifiers.

In an interview with German publication Bild, Rohr was asked to list the best players he has handled and surprisingly he omitted former captain of the team John Obi Mikel, who was at Chelsea when he was coach is the Nigerian team in his early days.

He picked Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi and went further by praising Chukwueze as a player who is capable of anything.

SPORT BILD: And who is the best African you have ever coached?

Rohr: In addition to Aubameyang, Osimhen, Alex Iwobi (Nigeria star of Everton FC, ed.) is also a wonderful footballer. And Villarreal’s Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze, who shot Bayern out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals, is going to be a big one. He is a great dribbler with a lot of wit and stands for attractive wing play. If Samuel comes in from the right and pulls in, he’s capable of anything.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has listed three players of the senior national team of Nigeria among the best he has ever handled in his career.

Rohr was sacked as coach of the Nigerian team in December after six years at the helm but he still had fond memories of his time as coach of the Nigerian team despite how his tenure ended.

The coach was unceremoniously axed minutes few minutes after qualifying Nigeria for the World Cup qualifiers playoff by finishing as group leaders in the group stages of the qualifiers.

In an interview with German publication Bild, Rohr was asked to list the best players he has handled and surprisingly he omitted former captain of the team John Obi Mikel, who was at Chelsea when he was coach is the Nigerian team in his early days.

He picked Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi and went further by praising Chukwueze as a player who is capable of anything.

SPORT BILD: And who is the best African you have ever coached?

Rohr: In addition to Aubameyang, Osimhen, Alex Iwobi (Nigeria star of Everton FC, ed.) is also a wonderful footballer. And Villarreal’s Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze, who shot Bayern out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals, is going to be a big one. He is a great dribbler with a lot of wit and stands for attractive wing play. If Samuel comes in from the right and pulls in, he’s capable of anything.

Former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has replied former coach of the team Sunday Oliseh who attacked the former captain in an interview few weeks ago.

Oliseh was Mikel’s coach in the senior national team of Nigeria for a brief period and according to Oliseh they didn’t get along as Mikel didn’t play to how he wanted him to hence his decision to bench him.

Mikel wasn’t considered as captain by Oliseh after his fall out with ex captain Vincent Enyeama. He rather went for Ahmed Musa. Oliseh went further as saying Wilfred Nididi is to me a better defensive midfielder than Mikel.

While speaking on this time with the senior national team of Nigeria Mikel veered to his final days in the team where ex coach Gernot Rohr claimed he wants happy that he lost his spot to Alex Iwobi at AFCON 2019, he also addressed the interview granted by Oliseh.

“Few things happened towards my final days in the national team and I was very careful not to react in a way that will affect the group. I thought I had a good relationship with the coach (Gernot Rohr) but after  I left, I read somethings in the media that there were issues between Alex Iwobi and I during the Nations Cup in Egypt”, he told the online edition of Thisday newspaper.

“Unfortunately, it was the opposite because I have a solid relationship with the player just like others in the national team. I read it just the same way I learnt  few days ago about my disagreement with Sunday Oliseh when he was the coach. All these are mere distraction and will  not want to join issues with anyone. Respect is the key rather than unnecessary attention”, he concluded.

The exiled first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria Maduka Okoye has drawn the ire of fans of English Championship side Watford after conceding in his first game for the club.

Watford played their first pre season game and handed Okoye who was signed from Sparta Rotterdam last summer but loaned back for the entirety of last season his debut. It didn’t go as planned.

Okoye was beaten at his near post as Watford succumbed to a 1-3 defeat against Cambridge United in their first pre season game played at the training ground of Arsenal London Colney.

He was substituted at half time but that didn’t stop the fans of the team from questioning the capabilities of the shot stopper, who has requested to be left out of the senior national team of Nigeria for the time being.

Fans of Watford were unhappy with his positioning for the goal and as expected expressed their feelings through social media. It’s not too different from the goal he conceded for Nigeria in the 0-1 defeat to Tunisia in the round of 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations.

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.