As the dust begin to settle on Nigeria U17 team winning the WAFU B Championship, clubs have started the process of contacting owners of the players in view of tying them down to deals, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Scouts from various teams were in Ghana during the tournament as it coincides with when they came for a scouting event which had lot of Nigerian teams in attendance. The scouts we gathered came from Spain, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Portugal.

Nigeria emerged as the champions of the tournament beating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final match of the tournament. Both teams secured their spots in the U17 Africa Cup of Nations which will hold in Algeria.

As expected most of the scouts picked interest in the Nigerian players who were by far the best in the tournament by virtue of the fact that they won the man of the match award in all of their games.

We gathered FC Porto are the first team to sound out three players from the team officially as a representative of the Portuguese side was in Nigeria to hold talks with the clubs of the trio.

It’s still early days yet but talks have progressed nicely so far and we gathered the idea is to have first refusal on the players. Our source refused to reveal the names of the three players who are in talks with the Portuguese giants.

Nigeria international winger Moses Simon appears not to be losing sleep over where his future lies despite multiple reports linking him with a move away from French Ligue 1 side Nantes.

Simon is presently on holiday with his family at an unknown destination per pictures on his various handles on social media platforms. He is taking a break in the heat of reports about his representative opening talks with several teams over his signing.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the soon to be 27 year old has given his representative go ahead to hold talks with English side Brighton and Hove Albion preferring them over a move to Newcastle United.

However, sources close to the player say they have been unable to reach him to know how well talks are progressing with all of his lines not currently available. He is due back from holiday in two weeks time.

It’s still unclear if he will return back to Nantes for pre season training as there are reports that French side Nice are keen on wrapping up a deal for him in the next few days. Marseille are also in the running to have him in their sqaud next season.

Watford have mutually agreed to terminate the contract of goalkeeper Rob Elliot following the club’s relegation to the Championship, according to the Athletic.

The 36-year-old had one year remaining on his deal but it’s been amicably agreed between club and player to allow him to seek other opportunities.

It means Watford are now in the market for another goalkeeper. As explained here new signing Maduka Okoye is expected to be No 1 which leaves Daniel Bachmann’s future uncertain.

Therefore Watford may be in the market for either a keeper to challenge Okoye if Bachmann leaves or an experienced No 3 as support.

Pontus Dahlberg, who is also at the club, is expected to sign another loan deal for next season.

Source: The Athletic.

A former coach of the Nigeria U17 team has explained why Crystal Palace New signing Malcolm Ebiowei was dropped from the Nigeria U17 camp in 2019.

OwnGoalNigeria.com last week reported how the 18 year old was humiliated in the camp of the Nigerian team ahead of the U17 World Cup as told by his uncle who brought him to the camp.

Ebiowei who was then at Arsenal was after a while deemed not good enough but that was after he was subjected to several unfair treatments like doubts over if he is indeed an Arsenal player. He was also asked to cut his hair with one of the coaches saying he is too lazy.

From then to now he has grown into a player in the English top division largely due to his impressive display for Derby County last season in the English Championship. He signed a five year deal with Crystal Palace on a free transfer from Derby County.

Explaining their own side of the story, a coach who was a part of the team back then explained that like several other players who came from abroad, he failed to adjust to the culture, weather and also physical demands.

” Malcolm like several others who came from abroad needed time to settle down to be able to battle the culture shock, physical demands and also the weather. He was off the pace and that is supposed to be understandable. We could see the talent in him but we didn’t have time as the World Cup was close”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” He played in like three test games and didn’t do badly but they were others who did really well. It wasn’t a case of unfair treatment as said by his uncle. It’s more like a learning curve which has made him a better player now. I am particularly excited for him”, he concluded.

Relegated English Premier League side Watford are losing sleep over their plan to let Nigeria international striker Emmanuel Dennis leave the club this summer.

Following their failure to maintain their Premier League status, they have resigned to losing Dennis who finished as their top scorer last season with 11 goals in what was his debut season in the league.

Dennis is also keen on leaving and also staying in the English Premier League but there have been no serious bid for his service so far as teams get set for pre season training. The situation is said to be unsettling Watford.

Watford plan to start preparation for the season with the future of their key players settled, and they want to use the proceed from the sale of players particularly Dennis and Ismaila Saar to strengthen their squad in certain areas.

Valued at £20m, only West Ham have been credited with an interest in the 24 year old but they are yet to firm it up with an official offer. A situation that hasn’t gone down well with the Championship side.

Nigeria international striker Sadiq Umar will likely leave Almeria this summer with Villarreal close to agreeing a cash plus player bid for the 25 year old, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

After guiding Almeria to promotion to La Liga Sadiq who also finished as top scorer for the club for the second consecutive season is linked with a move away with interest from top teams around Europe.

Ajax, Benfica are among the two teams to have sounded out his representatives over his availability but it appears Villarreal are leading the race to sign him with meeting already held to that effect.

Villarreal were told it will cost €25 million plus other variables which will see the deal rise to around €30m. Half of what is contained in the buyout clause of the lanky Nigerian striker.

Almeria are willing to accept a price lower than Sadiq’s buy out clause as a mark of respect to the Nigerian, who decided against all odds to remain at the club last season despite offers to move to a La Liga side.

Talks were held between both teams with Almeria pushing for Villarreal to add Manu Morlanes who they had on loan two seasons ago as part of the deal. Villarreal are not opposed to the idea and they could also raise cash for other aspect of the deal with the impending sale of Arnold Danjuma.

However, their biggest obstacle will be convincing Sadiq who is keen on a move to Sevilla owing very much to his relationship with the sporting director of the team Monchi. They were both together at Roma.

We gathered Sadiq gave his words to Monchi after a failed bid to sign him last summer. He promised to prioritize a move to the Andalusian side ahead of any in this window. Sadiq also wants to play for a team in the UEFA Champions League.

The situation will be a lot clearer in the coming weeks when the forward returns to Spain for the start of pre season training. He is presently in his hometown state Kaduna and watched a recent Nigeria Professional Football League game between Niger Tornadoes and Kwara United at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium.

23 year old Nigerian striker Etiosa Godspower Ighodaro is hot on the radar of Serbian side Partizan Belgrade, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The forward has been a revelation for second division side University of Pretoria with nine goals in the league and four in cup games last season. That form has placed him on the radar of several teams.

For now Partizan Belgrade look to be leading the race using their relationship with the camp of the player to good effect. He has almost same people like ex Partizan striker Sadiq Umar.

They are willing to pay €500,000 for the forward with the hope that he will be a huge hit like Sadiq was during his time at the club. The aim is to sell him for a premium in few years time.

More talks and meetings will be held before the close of this month with a view of wrapping up the deal before the start of pre season in preparation for next season.

Senegalese football super star Sadio Mane says the failure of Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a big blow to the African continent.

Nigeria lost out on qualifying for the World Cup after losing on away goal rule to Ghana. It is the second time since 1994 that Nigeria won’t be at the World Cup after failing to qualify for the 2006 edition in Germany.

Mane and his Senegalese teammates edged out Egypt to pick one of the five available slots for Africa at the World Cup holding in November. He feels Africa will be without some of their traditional power house and star players.

” You get people asking why is Salah not going to be at the World Cup. Egypt has a very strong team, we were lucky to deny them qualification. What about Cote d’Ivoire? Nigeria with their arrays of star players and entertaining brand of football won’t be at the World Cup. That’s a blow to the continent”,he told FIFA Productions in a broadcast monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com.

He said competition for spots in African football is now more fierce than ever, a sign of how well football is developing in the region which he said has all made the players to be high in demand.

” We have an ever improving continent when it comes to football. It’s why you see players from Africa in top teams. It’s tough to win games these days. You have to be at your best all the time”.

The three Nigeria international players on the books of English Premier League side Leicester City last season are all facing contrasting future at the club as they get set for the start of pre season training.

Last season, Leicester City had the Nigerian trio of Ademola Lookman, Wilfred Nididi and Kelechi Iheanacho, with Lookman on loan from RB Leipzig with an option of signing him permanently at the end of his loan spell.

For now only Ndidi is sure of staying at the club as we exclusively gathered that they have held talks with his representative over extending his current deal which has two more years to run. Talks on it will accelerate in the coming weeks.

Iheanacho ended last season on a high but manager Brendan Rodgers wants a striker of a different profile hence won’t mind cashing in on the forward if they get a  bid in the region of £10m.

There have been no communication with RB Leipzig for Lookman indicating an unwillingness to make the deal permanent. Lookman will return to RB Leipzig but will likely be sold with interest in his services from teams in France reported over the weekend.