Former Nigeria Professional Football League feared forward Sunday Adetunji is reportedly on the radar of two Turkish giants in Besiktas and Fenerbahçe, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

The 24 year old shot himself into the path of the duo with a brace for his Macedonian FC Shkupi side against Fenerbahçe in a pre season game during the course of last week. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.

Per reports in Turkey, both teams liked what they saw in the Nigerian who was instrumental to his team winning the Macedonia league with 20 goals in 28 games. He finished as top scorer in the league.

Valued at €2m, Adetunji is a well known forward in the NPFL where he turned out for Shooting Stars,Abia Warriors, Enyimba, Lobi Stars, Plateau United and Rivers United. He also had a short stint abroad with Czech Republic side 1.FK Pribam.

Head coach of Nottingham Forest Steve Copper has explained the reason behind their decision to sign Nigeria international forward Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin on a record transfer fee.

Awoniyi was officially announced as a player of the club earlier today following  the conclusion of his record breaking £17.3m move. He becomes the club’s first signing of the summer transfer window following their promotion to the English Premier League.

The fee that Forest paid for the Nigerian has dominated discussions with some pundits wondering if he is indeed worth that might owing to the fact that he only had one good season, which was last season.

Copper remained unfazed by the doubts explaining that they watched the Nigerian for a while before deciding to pay that much for the 24 year old, who has represented Nigeria at all levels from U17 to the senior national team.

“There’s been a lot of interest in Taiwo from other Premier League clubs, and other clubs across Europe, so we’re delighted that he’s chosen Nottingham Forest”, he told the official website of the club.

“Our recruitment and coaching teams have been monitoring his progress closely over the last few months. He’s a player who we really believe in and we look forward to him going on to fulfil his potential and become a top Premier League striker with Nottingham Forest”, he explained.

The Nigeria U17 team yesterday emerged champions of the U17 WAFU B Championship which took place in Ghana. They defeated Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final claim the title by winning all of their games.

OwnGoalNigeria.com senior editor Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman who was with the team from the first day of screening in Abuja till when they departed for the tournament takes a look at five not too known reasons why the team won the tournament with ease.

1. Set Piece – From the first day of screening coach Nduka Ugbade was keen on ensuring that the team makes good use of opportunity from set pieces. It paid off as the team scored 80% of their goals from set piece situations. That Emmanuel Michael proved to be a major weapon with three goals from free kicks wasn’t a fluke rather it was hard work from the training ground.

2. Attacking Full backs – Ugbade saw over twelve full backs during the period of screening. Team got decimated when three out of his first choice full backs failed the MRI test. The coach still insisted on full backs who can be a threat in the opposition half depsite the limited time to search for a replacement.

Yahaya Lawal and Emmanuel Michael were both not just solid in defence as full backs but also very potent in the other part of the pitch with as many as eight goals contributions between them.

3. Unity Among The Coaches – From the head coach to the least in the pecking order. All coaches sang one song from the start of screening to the final selection and even tactics. Their unity came handy when they needed to replace players who failed MRI test with few days to the submission of list of players for the tournament.

4. Highly Technical And Mobile Players – During camping in Abuja it was clear to all present that the Nigerian team will be one filled with energy and movements with or without the ball. Ugbade drilled mobility into the boys that even the ones who were seen as slow picked up the pace. It aided their technical ability as they appear to have a yard of fitness over all their opponents especially in latter stages of games.

5. Zero Interference Aided Honest Selection – The coaches can proudly say they were in charge of picking the final team for the tournament unlike past teams. There was zero interference from the men at the top of Nigerian football and it helped the coaches to stay honest in their selection of players for the tournament.

The Nigeria U17 team have been crowned champions of the WAFU B Championship after a hard fought 2-1 win over Burkina Faso in the final game of the tournament.

Abubakar Abdullahi hit a brace either side of the half for the Nigerian team who ended the tournament by winning all four of their games at the tournament.

Three times man of the match winner Emmanuel Michael turned provider for Abdullahi to head Nigeria in front in the 22nd minute from a sweeping counter attack.  That advantage was however eroded before the half time break.

Failure to properly clear a cross into the box by the Nigerian defence allowed Adulrahmane Quedrago the chance to draw Burkina Faso level with a strong header in the box just three minutes to half time.

Four minutes after the restart Emmanuel Michael was at the heat of things again, this time around his long range free kick was spilled by the Burkinabe goalkepper onto the path of Abdullahi, who stabbed home to  help Nigeria regain their lead.

Tried as they could, the Nduka Ugbade led lads held on to claim a memorable win by inflicting the first defeat on Burkina Faso at the tournament.

The Nigeria U17 team will later today take on their Burkina Faso counterpart in the final of the WAFU B U17 Championship which is the qualifiers for the Africa U17 Cup of Nations.

By virtue of making it to the final game of the tournament, both teams have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations but will still have all to play for later today when they clash.

The tournament isn’t on national or pay TV but Nigerians residing in Ghana can watch the game on Max TV. A local station in Ghana who have been streaming the tournament from the start.

Also they are not the surest link to see the game online as it’s on their official Facebook page and also website. It’s also on Elevensports.com and the official Facebook page of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The game is scheduled for 8pm Nigerian time.

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.