Coach of Leicester City Brendan Rodgers says Kelechi Iheanacho isn’t comfortable playing any other position aside from his primary role as a striker after his latest goal in their 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace.

The recently turned 25 year old showed his predatory instinct once again to grab his 11th goal in 12 Premier League starts for Leicester City. He has also scored more goals against Crystal Palace than any other team in England.

Rodgers who have been under immense pressure to play the Nigerian alongside Jamie Vardy in attack from the fans admitted that Iheanacho carries a threat of either scoring or assisting when on the pitch.

“I feel that he is a player that, over a period of time, he will either create or score a goal,” Rodgers says. “His energy at the top end of the field posed a threat.

He however dropped what should sound a warning to the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr who has over time play Iheanacho as the number ten in his team. Rodgers said he is purely a striker who can’t play any other position on the pitch.

“He can’t play in another position. He is purely a striker. When you play with two strikers, there is then a change behind that. That is one of the things I need to look at because of some of the types players we have: it doesn’t allow us to keep the ball as well as we would like.

“That is something I need to look at”.

Coach of Sparta Rotterdam Henk Frase says his team 1-2 loss to PSV Rotterdam was super disappointing after they conceded twice in the final nine minutes of the game despite the performance of Nigeria international goalkepper Maduka Okoye.

Okoye was imperious between the sticks for Sparta Rotterdam making as many as five saves in the first half before making three more in the second half. He ended up conceding twice with goals from Ibrahim Sangare and Ryan Thomas proving too difficult for him to stop.

Fraser admitted after the game that the performance of the 22 year old Nigerian kept his team in the game terming his display as fantastic and the sole positive to take from the loss which further compound their poor start to the season.

“But you do take it into account, because PSV has a lot of quality and had already had many opportunities. Madu had some fantastic saves, otherwise we would have fallen behind earlier. Now the disappointment prevails, but I have already complimented my players in the dressing room for the battle they have put in”, the coach said after the game.

”The plan we had was right, we just don’t have any points. We have to take the good feeling with us to the next matches, otherwise it wouldn’t have been worth anything.’

The international future of Crystal Palace midfielder Michael Olise is still unresolved despite an invitation from Nigeria in March for the final two games of the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Olise who was at Reading back then was placed on standby by coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr with the coach confident that he will be a part of the team as soon as they are able to resolve some adminstrative issues.

However that happens not to be the case again as the player who is eligible for Nigeria, England, France and Algeria is now leaning more towards playing for Algeria ahead of Nigeria.

His agent is behind the move for him to play for Algeria as he is unhappy over the manner the coach of the Nigerian team Rohr approached the player without his knowledge.

He initially alerted the French authority about the availability of Olise but they don’t seem interested in the left footed midfielder who scored his first English Premier League goal yesterday in a 2-2 draw against Leicester City.

England don’t seem interested as well but Algeria are still weighing up getting giving him a chance with Nigeria also not out of the picture yet as more talks will take place with his family led by his Nigerian father.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has explained the reason behind his decision to drop FC Porto left full back Zaidu Sanusi in favour of Calvin Bassey Ughelumba of Scottish side Rangers.

Bassey was handed a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria by Rohr for the upcoming back to back 2022 World Cup qualifiers game against Central Africa Republic (CAR) on the 7th and 10th of October respectively.

Zaidu has been a part of the Super Eagles team for almost two years but lost his place as first choice left back for club and country after a not too good start to the season and accounting to Rohr it’s why he is not in the team.

Rohr however said, he is still in his plans but urged him to work hard to regain his spot as first choice of FC Porto where he is at times not even named in the squad for games following the arrival of Brazilian left back Wendell from Bayern Leverkusen.

“Last time he was in our list but he couldn’t come because of a positive COVID test. He was unlucky,” Rohr said. “Now it is October and this is the right moment, he is the only new player we have invited.”

“When we had to do the list he [Sanusi] didn’t play the last five games in the club,” the coach explained. “We cannot put three left backs in the list.

“But we know already his qualities and he will come back next time when he is playing in the club. I like this player very much but it’s also the opportunity to test a new player.”

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen has reacted to the racial insult he suffered during the course of Napoli’s 2-1 win away to Fiorentina.

The Nigerian was targeted by some section of the fans of Fiorentina with racial insults aimed towards him and two other players in Kalidou Koulibaly and Zambo Anguissa as Napoli made it seven wins out of seven Serie A games so far.

Osimhen who has been pivotal to the early fantastic run by Napoli took to Twitter to register his displeasure at the insults which lasted up until Koulibaly was granting post match interview.
“Speak to your kids,your parents make them understands how disgusting it is to hate an individual because of the color of their skin NOTORACISM❌“, he posted in reaction to the incident.

His reaction came after the CEO of Fiorentina Joe Barone sent his apologies to all 3 Napoli players who were subjected to the racist chants on Sunday. Racism has continue to plaque Italian football with many of the opinion that the authority are not doing enough to curb the menace.

Union Berlin forward Taiwo Awoniyi has been handed a maiden call up to the senior national team of Nigeria for their 2022 World Cup qualifiers game against Central Africa Republic.

Awoniyi was picked by coach Gernot Rohr as a replacement for Lorient forward Terem Moffi who who won’t be available for the game after picking up an injury in yesterday’s Ligue 1 game against Clermont Foot.

Moffi was called up as a replacement for Everton forward Alex Iwobi who also picked up an injury in training. The forward was a part of the sqaud for the last round of games against Liberia and Cape Verde.

The call up for Awoniyi came few minutes after his match winning brace for Union Berlin against Mainz O5 in the German Bundesliga. His 5th goal this season from seven games.

From twelve games in all competitions this season, the 24 year old has scored eight goals so far making this season one of his most prolific ever with less than ten games played so far.

Tai Sodje has once again turn down the chance to represent the U19 of England when ahead of their upcoming three friendly games during the international break.

18 year old Sodje has impressed for the U23s of Man City this season following his step up from the U18 where he scored 19 goals in 23 games. It earned him his first professional contract at the club and subsequent elevation to the U23.

In six games for the U23 he has scored three goals so far with another coming for the U19 in the UEFA Youth League. A form that got many saying he will be handed a chance with the U19 of England.

Early this year he turned down the chance to link up with the U18 as first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com and later confirmed by his uncle Sam Sodje. He has once again done same with the U19s according to a  source close to the player.

He is keen on following in the footsteps of his uncles Efe Sodje and Sam Sodje who were senior international players for Nigeria at some point in their career. His dream is to once again put the family’s name in the limelight when it comes to Nigerian football.

England U19 will face France in their first match on Wednesday, before taking on Mexico on Saturday 9 October. The triple header will then conclude when they face Belgium on Tuesday 12 October.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has once again defend his choice of sticking with Paul Onuachu as second choice striker behind Victor Osimhen.

Before naming Lorient forward Terem Moffi as a replacement for the injured Alex Iwobi, the 22 year old wasn’t named in the squad of Nigeria for the back to back World Cup 2022 qualifiers game against Central Africa Republic (CAR) on the 7th and 10th of October.

Moffi was axed despite his poor form with Rohr sticking to the duo of Osimhen and Onuachu as his first choice pairing but the injury to Iwobi meant he was handed a call up as replacement.

With two goals to his name already in the Ligue 1 which is seen as a lot harder to score than the Belgium League where Onuachu is king with 9 goals from 8 games, Rohr explained that it’s because of the variety Onuachu brings.

” Moffi I like a lot and he knows it but Onuachu style of play gives us something different in attack. His style is entirely different from others and you need him when games gets tight. Moffi is still young and he has a huge future with us”, he explained.

Coach of Leicester City Brendan Rodgers had confirmed that Nigeria international midfielder Wilfred Ndidi is nursing a harmstring injury which might see him miss couple of games starting from this weekend game against Crystal Palace.

Ndidi was also not called up by the coach of the Nigerian team for the back to back World Cup qualifiers game against Central Africa Republic (CAR) on the 7th and 10th of October respectively.

Ever present for Leicester City and the senior national team of Nigeria in the last few years, Rodgers explained that even though he has other players who can play in Ndidi’s role, the Nigerian brings sometimes different when he plays.

The coach hinted that he could try a new formation to make up for the absence of the Nigerian when they take on Leicester City later today. Terming Ndidi as irreplaceable while commenting on his absence after their 0-1 loss to Legia Warsaw in the Europa League.

“Obviously he couldn’t play tonight but he had a bit of an issue at the beginning of the Burnley game so he’s a big doubt for the weekend,” Rodgers confirmed. “He’s felt a little bit in his hamstring.”

“It’s impossible to find what we have,” Rodgers said of Ndidi’s absence before the clash with Legia. “We’ve got good players, but specifically the job he does in breaking up play and just his overall defending and in the box, he’s irreplaceable for us.

“We have a number of other good players, we just need to find a different way. That’s also part of the point, as I said earlier in the season, for bringing Soumare into the squad, because he gives us that physicality. But Wilf’s a really unique and fabulous player.”

Nantes of France forward Moses Simon has explained why he is an attacking delight for Nantes in the Ligue 1 but more defensive while playing for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

Simon was two days ago voted the club’s player of the month for the second month running after his whirlwind start to the season with five assists and one goal to his name from eight games .

He is seen as the heart and soul of Nantes to an extent that coach Antoine Kombouare says he wondered how they will cope when he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations in January to represent Nigeria.

However one key thing many have observed about the 26 year old is that he plays with a certain degree of freedom for Nantes as he dribbles, scores and assist at will. The same cannot be said about him in a Super Eagles shirt.

” The setup is different. At Nantes I have little defensive responsibility but with the Super Eagles I am require to first of all help out in defence. I’m comfortable playing anywhere for the good of the team but like every player will tell you performance level increases when you play unrestricted”, Simon told OwnGoalNigeria.com.