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.

One of the agents who worked on Victor Osimhen’s record breaking move from Lille to Napoli has dragged the forward to Ikeja Court on account of his refusal to pay him his commission from the deal, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Osita Okolo we were made to understand is an in-law to the forward 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 contact with Osita insisting on getting his money in full.

All attempts to reach Osimhen to hear his side on the issue proved abortive and Osita refused to elaborate on the matter and only told our correspondent that he is in court over an issue with Osimhen.

” I can’t confirm anything to you on my issue with Osimhen but we are in court over an issue that has dragged on for a while. That’s all I can’t tell you”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles Jose Peseiro has described the 30,000 -capacity Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo also known as the Nest of Champions as a world class stadium with modern facilities.

Coach Peseiro who was in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital as a guest for the NPFL Match Day 35 between Akwa United and Plateau United on Saturday, was guided on a tour of the stadium facility on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports and Chairman of Akwa United Football Club, Elder Paul Bassey.

The Portuguese alongside his assistant, Acacio Santos inspected the natural grass in the main bowl, the two training pitches, dressing rooms, referees room, conference rooms, the stadium environment among others.

Speaking after the inspection tour, Peseiro said he was impressed with the facilities at the stadium, adding that despite being used weekly by Akwa United and Dakkada FC for their NPFL matches, the quality of the pitch as well as the facilities have been properly maintained.

“This is a good stadium, feels like Europe and the standard of facility is world class. I came here to watch the match and to check the stadium and I must say that the stadium is big and in a nice condition.”

Asked if he will recommend the stadium for the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the coach said “I am happy that aside Abuja stadium we have another big stadium here, I am going round to inspect the stadiums we have in Nigeria and at the end I will give my advice and the NFF will take the decision, it is not up to me,” he added.

The Portuguese refuse to complain about the poor turf of the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja prior to the Super Eagles 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone a few weeks ago and the Super Eagles will face the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau in their next game in the qualifiers in September.

By Bassey Ibiatisuho

Portuguese top division side Benfica are currently looking for a replacement for Darwin Nunez who recently moved to Liverpool for a fee or around €80m.

The Portuguese side have drawn up a shortlist of players who they see as possible alternative to the departed forward and among them is Nigerian striker Sadiq Umar of Almeria.

Sadiq powered Almeria to promotion to the La Liga by finishing as top scorer for the second consecutive season since he joined the club two years ago and that feat hasn’t gone unnoticed per reports in Spain.

Although Almeria are adamant that only the triggering of his buy out clause will make them negotiate his exit, Benfica are however hoping their hope relationship with the Spanish side will work in their favour.

Nunez was signed from Almeria two seasons ago and both teams struck up a very good relationship from the deal. Sadiq who was signed as Nunez’s replacement at Almeria might replace the Uruguayan at Benfica this summer.

Contacts have been made with the camp of the lanky forward but nothing concrete has happened. Benfica will reportedly be willing to pay €15m for the 24 year old who is presently on holiday in Kaduna state.

Nigeria international goalkepper Maduka Okoye has resumed pre season training with his new team Watford ahead of the start of the English Championship.

Relegated Watford signed the Nigerian from Sparta Rotterdam of the Netherlands last season but kept him there on loan for the entirety of last season. He is prime to be their first choice following the departure of  Fraser Forster to Tottenham Hotspur.

However he first has to earn the right by posting good performance in pre season with rumours circulating about Watford wanting to bring in at least an experienced shot stopper to aid their quest of a quick return to the English Premier League.

Okoye is aware of the desire of the team to secure a quick return back to the English Premier League and he says he hopes to play a part in helping the team play in the top division, which he said is his dream when he accepted to join the English side.

“I think in every player’s head is going back up to the Premier League, It’s important to have ambition”, he told Watford Observer.

“On a personal level, I just want to help fulfil that ambition for the other players and the club. The more playing time the better, but most of all I want to see myself grow as a person and a goalkeeper.”

The Nigeria U17 team arrived Abuja yesterday after conquering their zone in the qualifiers for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations. They won the WAFU B zone of the qualifiers with a 2-1 win over Burkina Faso.

They played one of the most exciting brand of football any youth team from Nigeria has played in a while blowing away all teams that came their way. They won all four of the games they played at the tournament.

In all four games, players from the Nigerian team were picked as man of the match with Michael Emmanuel winning three in a row before goalkepper Richard Odoh won it in the final match.

As expected players of the team have turned hot cake hence it wasn’t any surprise when agents waited at the airport for their arrival to begin the process of luring them to their agency.

At the Abuja International airport, agents were seen trying to gain access to the players who also had representatives of their various academies waiting for them at the airport. They were properly guarded also led away in a bus by officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).