The agent of world football global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has added another Nigerian to his player management company bringing to two the number of Nigerians under his care.

Jorge Mendes already has Super Eagles left full back Zaidu Sanusi of FC Porto under his management agency and only yesterday he added Manchester United teen forward Shola Shoretire to his stables.

Shoretire’s rise at Manchester United has stalled a bit as he went from one of the hottest teen prospect by making the first team squad regular to struggling to get games for the youth teams last season.

Born to Nigerian parents in England, he has represented England at several youth levels but per several reports his father reached out to the authorities in Nigeria on his desire to play for the senior national team of Nigeria.

Alexander Oluwole Shoretire told the online version of Nigerian tabloid via phone call on the 15th of December that his son wouldn’t mind a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria.

: “I want those managing football in Nigeria to note that I want my son to play for my country, Nigeria. He has broken all records in football since he started playing. The England national team is doing everything possible to see that my son feature for the ‘Three Lions’, but I want him to play his senior career with the Super Eagles”, he was quoted as saying.

Torino and Nigeria international defender Ola Aina has explained what led to him not playing regular games for Torino since the start of the year.

Aina was ever present in the first half of the season for Torino and left to represent Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon which started in January. By the time Nigeria exited the tournament at the round of 16 his spot in the team have been taken up by someone else.

He failed to win his spot back till the season ended and with a year to go on his deal at the club, the former Chelsea defender is open to the idea of leaving the Serie A side with reports circulating that he is likely eyeing a move back to England.

In an interview with the BBC, Aina explained what he thinks was responsible for his lack of game time, upon his return from AFCON duties with the senior national team of Nigeria insisting that he has no regret going to the tournament.

“For me, I didn’t have any issue. I was looking forward to it (the Nations Cup) from the time we had qualified to go and play in that tournament*, he said in an interview with BBC.

“I think there should be a middle ground. Obviously, as players, we understand that while we are away the team have to adapt and other players may take their opportunities and that’s understandable and acceptable because we are not there.

“In my case, that’s what happened. Someone took their opportunity and they did very well, and that’s just the nature of the game.”

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen might be having his third agent in two years with reports circulating that he is about to ditch his agent Roberto Calenda owing to his failure to secure him a move away from Napoli.

Calenda started working with Osimhen recently and he is said to be the brain behind reports linking the player with a move to Arsenal at the start of the summer transfer window. The reports appears to have disappeared lately.

Napoli according to reports were only willing to listen to offers in the region of a €100m. A few which Arsenal couldn’t match hence switched to other targets on their summer list.

Osimhen is said to have been unhappy that the move didn’t work out and might be tempted to severe ties with Calenda according to reports in Italy monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com.

The Nigerian was represented by Jean-Gerard Benoit Czajka from the age of 14 but parted ways with him during negotiations for the record breaking move to Napoli, a little over two years ago.

He pitched tents with William D’Avilla of DW Sports and he made the deal to Napoli happen. They both parted ways a year into his deal at Napoli leaving Osimhen’s in law Osita Okolo as his agent.

Osita reported angered the Napoli forward when he spoke about the need for him to take care of his family. The statement appeared not to have gone down well with the 23 year old. He startes working with Calenda this year.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro will allow some players from the Nigeria U17 team who are through to the final of the WAFU B Championship to train with his team, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria will take on Burkina Faso later today in the final game of the tournament taking place in Ghana with both teams already through to the U17 Africa Cup of Nations which will take place in Algeria next year.

Some players have distinguished themselves in the Nigerian team and head coach of the senior team Peseiro has drawn out a plan on how best they will be aided to grow by slowly integrating them in his team’s training.

A board member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said Peseiro in a meeting with the technical department of the Federation led by Austine Eguavoen revealed he has plans on picking some players in the team to train with the Super Eagles.

The essence is to help accelerate their career growth and also start the process of integrating them into the set up like Gernot Rohr did with Victor Osimhen in 2016. Rohr called him up after he impressed for the Nigerian team at the 2015 U17 World Cup.

Ingolstadt talented 18 year old forward Michael Udebuluzor says his intention is to play for the senior national team of Nigeria after making his breakthrough at the German side.

From the youth of the eleven-time champion in Hong Kong, Kitchee , Udebuluzor moved to the German football boarding school in Bad Aibling in 2018 – and there he attracted the attention of the scouts of several professional clubs from the region – from Red Bull Salzburg to 1860 Munich before finding his feet at Ingolstadt.

He is seen as an option for his country of birth Hong Kong but he shut it down as his main aim is to represent the senior national team of Nigeria in the future, he also revealed that he has already turned down approached from Hong Kong and he is talks with the Nigeria FA.

“Hong Kong and I have been in contact before, but I want to play for Nigeria if I have the opportunity. As far as I know, my advisors are in contact with the Nigerian FA”, the son of former Nigerian professional Cornelius Udebuluzor said.

Linked with a move to English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, he said his immediate intention is to establish himself in the first team of Ingolstadt and help the team who were relegated to 3rd division gain promotion.

Taiwo Awoniyi will be the most expensive purchase ever in the history of newly promoted English Premier League side Nottingham Forest after they agree to pay Union Berlin his release clause.

Awoniyi is expected to join the newly promoted side before the end of the week in a deal which will see them pay his release clause of £17.5million smashing their previous expensive purchase when they signed João Carvalho from Benfica for a fee of £13.2m in 2018.

It’s the second time, the 24 year old Nigerian will be the record signing at his club as his move last summer from Liverpool to Union Berlin also made him the club’s record signing for a fee of €6.5m.

He didn’t appear to be weighed down by the price tag as he responded with 15 goals in 31 games last season. A remarkable improvement from the previous season when he was on loan from Liverpool. He scored five goals in 31 games.

Fans of Nottingham Forest will be expecting the forward to hit the ground running at same speed that he settled to life at the German side as they bid to preserve their Premier League status.

The rise of Emmanuel Michael at the WAFU B Championship with the Nigeria U17 team has brought about an upsurge in the amount of agents pushing to make him their client, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Micheal has impressed with the Nigerian team with three goals from free kicks including a brace in the comeback 2-1 win over Cote d’Ivoire in the semi final of the tournament. They will now play Burkina Faso in the final.

The recently turned 16 year old has also won three straight man of the match award in all three games Nigeria have played so far. That hasn’t gone unnoticed according to the CEO of his team Simoiben Academy Mrs Sarah Simon, the wife of Super Eagles winger Moses Simon.

” For what he has done so far we know that they will definitely be interest from several agents. He is only 16 and it will be better if he is allowed to grow a bit before a decision is taken on his career. So far around 15 agents have contacted us with proposal to manage him”, she told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” It’s not an easy decision to make but our aim is to ensure that he gets the best representative and also the best move which will help develop him further. He is still very young”, she explained.

Crystal Palace will in the coming hours confirm the signing of Malcolm Ebiowei on a free transfer from relegated English Championship side Derby County per several reports.

Ebiowei had his breakthrough season at Derby County last season profiting from the embargo of signing of players due to the team’s financial issues to stamp his feet in the first team.

He has been through four clubs from 2019 till date when he was released by Arsenal. He had trials at West Ham but wasn’t signed. Rangers of Scotland gave him a one year deal that wasn’t renewed when it expired before he returned to England to join Derby County.

The nephew of the first assistant coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Finidi George was also in the camp of the Nigeria U17 team in 2019 but wasn’t selected in the final list of players for the tournament.

” He wasn’t treated fairly by the coaches in the camp of the Nigerian team. Even when he introduced himself that he is from the youth team of Arsenal, they doubted him and even mocked him”, his uncle told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” You know they asked him to cut his hair as he came to the camp with braids. In training he was termed lazy by the coaches to the point that I almost had a word with one of the coaches. He was really humiliated and eventually dropped but those experience shaped him into who he is about to be now”, he concluded.

Relegated Belgium top division side K Beerschot have announced the signing of two cap Super Eagles midfielder Alhassan Ibrahim on a free transfer from Portuguese side Nacional.

Alhassan who is popularly called Muazam left the second division side from the expiration of his deal at the club and penned a two year deal with K Beerschot, who are aiming to return to the Belgium top flight.

The 25 year old has moved from the traditional role he was playing in Nigeria which was just behind the striker to a more withdrawn role as a deep lying playmaker. He has been playing in that role for two seasons now.

Capped by former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, he was a part of the Nigeria U17 team of 2013 and also U20 team of 2015. The move to Belgium will be the third country he will be playing in since leaving Nigeria, where he represented Akwa United.

The senior national team of Nigeria is now the 5thh best team in Africa per the latest ranking released by world football governing body FIFA for the month of May.

Super Eagles played four games in the period under review, losing in two friendly games 1-2 and 0-1 to Mexico and Ecuador respectively before picking up two straight wins in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.

They defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 in Abuja and set a new national record with a 10-0 spanking of Sao Tome and Principe in Morocco to put themselves in the driver’s seat to qualify for the tournament, which will hold in Cote d’Ivoire next year.

Globally they dropped from the 31st position to 36th with Senegal still maintaining their spot as the highest ranked African country by moving two places to 18th in the world rankings released earlier today.