Leicester City top scorer for last season Kelechi Iheanacho has voiced out on his role as a substitute since the start of the new season.

Iheanacho showed his worth and usefulness to the ambition of Leicester City making the most of the absence of Harvey Barnes to form a formidable partnership with Jamie Vardy.

Their partnership delivered a first FA Cup trophy for the Foxes with the Nigerian also become the first striker since Leo Ulloa in 2015 to score more goals than Vardy in a season at the club.

The return of Barnes has however seen him return to the substitute bench as he has been used from the bench in the four premier league games played so far totaling 69 minutes. He is however relaxed over the situation with a firm believe that his time will come.

“Of course, I had a pretty good season at the end of last season, but honestly, I am not bothered (about) what’s going on,” Iheanacho told BBC Sport Africa.

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick yesterday said the football house has cleared all outstanding bonuses they are owing players of the team.

Speaking on the sidelines of the unveiling of another sponsor, Pinnick said they are no longer owing the players backlog of bonuses with the bonuses for the last two games paid as well.

He said they are at the moment owing just the coaches of the team and they already have plans to start paying them later this week.

“For the Players, i can tell you as of today, we have paid their last two bonuses and we don’t seem to be owing any more and we are happy with that”, he revealed.

“Then with the coaches, I am also interfacing with our sponsors and I can tell by today or tomorrow, we will also clear them because we want everybody to be happy at this period, we cannot have any form of animosity whether internally or externally on the part of our team”, Pinnick stated

His claims have been refuted by a senior player in the team who sent a message to OwnGoalNigeria.com via twitter when contacted about the payment of their outstanding bonuses.

“ It’s a lie. We only received the bonus for the last two games. 1 million Naira for the home win and it’s equivalent in dollars for the away win. Maybe they are in the process of paying and it hasn’t got to me yet. For now even the players I asked said they are yet to be paid”, he said.

Sparta Rotterdam of Holland teen forward Emanuel Emegha appears to be leaning more towards pledging his senior international future to the Netherlands ahead of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

The 18 year old was born in the Netherlands to a Nigerian mother and a Togolese father making him eligible to play international football for all three countries but so far he has only played for the Netherlands.

Following his breakthrough from the youth team of Sparta Rotterdam he spoke extensively of his desire to play for the senior national team of Nigeria like his teammate Maduka Okoye, who is the first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria.

However after making his U19 debut for the Netherlands, Emegha was quoted as saying that he plans to work his way to the top of the Dutch national team despite his eligibility to play for Nigeria.

He was on for the entire duration of the 0-3 friendly loss they suffered in the hands of their counterparts from Italy. It was his first involvement for the Netherlands since playing for the U15 In 2017.

Former goalkeeper and captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Vincent Enyeama has tipped Ahmed Musa to smash his record of the highest amount of caps for the Super Eagles.

Musa thought he has reached a 100 caps but a statement by FIFA said he is on 98 caps as two of the games counted for him by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were cancelled.

It means Musa who now plays in Turkey for Fatih Karagümrük will likely reach that total if selected to play in the back to back 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Central Africa Republic next month.

Enyeama who holds the record of most caps which stands at 104 has backed the 28 year old to surpass his tally and set a new record, terming him as a top player who is dedicated to the senior national team of Nigeria.

“I always knew he would get to hundred caps,” Enyeama told ESPN. “I [know he will] break that record because he has been consistent, and he has been one of the few Nigerians that have always showed up to play in the team whenever he has been called up.”

“If he is in good health, I think Musa can get up to 130 caps. He is doing well, he is the captain of the team. With the time he has, he can still get up to 40 more games for the country, comfortably.

“Musa is a top player. I want him to make 130-140 easy. Musa can comfortably play two Afcons and that is 12 games already. Then another set of qualifiers. And another World Cup to crown it off. He can achieve it without any push.”

Samuel Kalu is back in France but unable to train with the rest of his teammates at Ligue 1 side Bordeaux after testing positive for coronavirus during the international break with Nigeria.

Kalu’s sample alongside that of Tyronne Ebuehi came back as positive to the virus ruling them out of the Super Eagles second 2022 World Cup qualifiers game against Cape Verde.

Another test was conducted on the duo and it returned a negative result enabling them to travel back to their base but while Ebuehi is back with the squad at Serie A side Venezia and even made the substitute bench, same can’t be said about Kalu.

Bordeaux per statement in the French press picked up by OwnGoalNigeria.com will integrate him into their squad on Thursday as he was made to observe a seven day quarantine upon arrival from Nigeria despite testing negative.

It means he will be available for selection this weekend when they take on St-Etienne after missing yesterday’s game against Lens which they lost 2-3.

Nigeria international defender Chidozie Awaziem got his career off to a flying start at his loan side Alanyaspor by scoring the lone goal which handed them a 1-0 win over Girensunspor.

Signed on loan from Portuguese side Boavista before the close of the transfer window in Turkey, the 24 year old showed his ability in front of goal with a goal in the 8th minute.

The goal ended up as the winner for his side handing them only their second win this season after four rounds of games in the Turkish top flight league. They are now up to 11th on the log.

A record signing by Boavista from FC Porto early this summer, he was shipped out on loan as they struggle to meet up with their finances which will make it hard for them to pay his wages. The loan deal gives Alanyaspor the option of signing him permanently at the end of the season.

Napoli have been told that Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen is free to play for them when they take on Leicester City in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Nigerian was initially feared to be out of the game after representing Nigeria during the last international break where he played and scored against Cape Verde, one of the countries in the UK red list in the fight against the spread of coronavirus.

Visitors from countries in the UK red list are required by the British laws to quarantine for a minimum of ten days before they can be allowed to take part in public activities.

The laws would have seen Osimhen, Kalidou Koulibaly and David Ospina miss the Europa League game but it has been amended now allowing all three players who visited red listed countries free to play.

Per the new laws, players from UEFA club competitions are exempt from quarantine even after visiting a red listed country. No statement was made on if it covers African and South American countries on the red list with another round of international games looming.

Coach of Spanish La Liga side Villarreal Unai Emery has ruled Nigerian wing forward Samuel Chukwueze out of Wednesday UEFA Champions League game against Italian side Atalanta.

Chukwueze pick up what was initially described as a harmstring injury in May during the UEFA Europa League semi final clash against Arsenal. It later turned out to be worst than initially feared.

Initially set to return to full training by the end of July, he suffered a setback which ruled him out for a further three months according to respected Spanish media outlet Marca.

They claimed he was operated upon on his left leg after suffering a relapse while pushing to make the final match of the UEFA Europa league against Manchester United. The operation was needed to solve his persistent muscle problems.

He is suppose to be back after the first month of the new season but manager Unai Emery says the speed of his recovery isn’t encouraging and he will still be out for a while, “ He’s going a bit slower than we wanted and we still want to go cautiously with him. It’s a cause for concern”, the coach said ahead of the start of their campaign in the UEFA Champions League.

Former Super Eagles ace Garba Lawal says CSKA of Russia wing forward Chidera Ejuke will stand a great chance of becoming a regular in the Super Eagles if he works on certain areas in his game.

Ejuke has played three senior games for the senior national team of Nigeria and showed how potent he can be in the offensive third with strong dribbling runs leaving defenders for dead.

He is however yet to score or provide any assist with just one shot on target to his name and it came in the game against Cape Verde in the recent 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Lawal believe he can obviously do more.

Presently he is behind Moses Simon , Samuel Kalu, Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi in the Super Eagles options on the wings but Lawal says with some little adjustments he can claim a permanent spot in the team.

“ I see him as a bag of potential and he will explode soon if he adjust some areas in his game. He need to shot more and dribble less particularly when he is close to goal. Defending might not be his strength but he still need to add it to his game”, Lawal told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

“ The players ahead of him in the Super Eagles now can all do well in all that I have mentioned but he is a better dribbler so if he can add the rest to his game, he will be unstoppable”.

Innocent Bonke will get more chances with the senior national team of Nigeria after impressing coach of the team Gernot Rohr, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Rohr was pleased with the players commitment in training which earned him a spot on the bench in the first game against Liberia and subsequently a starting berth away to Cape Verde.

The ability of the Malmo of Sweden defensive midfielder in breaking up play and not pulling out of tackles won the heart of the coach who told members of his backroom staff of his excitement with the 25 year old.

A product of extensive scouting particularly after excelling for Malmo in the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League group stage, Rohr sees him as an alternative to first choice defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi.

Experience wise he won’t be lost as well as he is expected to be an integral part of the campaign of his team in the UEFA Champions League starting from tomorrow when they host Juventus.