Barring a last minute change of mind Joshua Oluwayemi will get another chance with the senior national team of Nigeria when they regroup for the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

The Tottenham Hotspur U23 shot stopper was a part of the B team that played against Mexico in an international friendly that ended 4-0 in favour of the Mexicans. He was an unused substitute following his late call up as replacement for the injured Ikechukwu Ezenwa.

We gathered he is likely to still be a part of the squad with coach Gernot Rohr not having the option of calling up a goalkeeper from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) which is on break.

Oluwayemi who is the third choice goalkeeper of Spurs but the first choice for the U23 will at that time be actively involved in English Premier League 2 games putting him in a strong position for a call up.

Although Rohr still has Kaizer Chiefs Daniel Akpeyi as an option, Oluwayemi is seen as a better prospect as back up to the duo of Maduka Okoye and Francis Uzoho who are the first and second choice respectively.

Nantes of France and Super Eagles of Nigeria winger Moses Simon says the arrival of Lionel Messi to French Ligue 1 will bring about increase in visibility of the league.

Simon who is seen as the livewire of Nantes for the past two seasons played against the Argentine while he was at Levante. A game where he got the shirt of the six times  Balon d’or winner.

Looking ahead to possibly facing him again when Nantes clash against PSG, Simon says his signing is a win for anyone associated with French football “ It’s a big boost to the image of the league. It’s a move that will see many people watch the league now. In Nigeria it will be great as they will get to see me play more with the arrival of Messi now”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

26 year old Simon has scored twice in three games against PSG in the two seasons he has spent in Ligue 1 and he says he look forward to scoring against them for the third season running.

“ I think the games will now be bigger than ever and my aim is to maintain my scoring run but what is most important is for us to pick up points as PSG are the favorites going into the season”, he concluded.

Newly promoted English Premier League side Watford will in the coming days send out two Nigerians on loan in order to create space for players who they believe fit into the plans of the manager.

Out of the four senior Nigeria internationals on their books only the trio of William Troost-Ekong, Oghenekaro Etebo and Emmanuel Dennis have a spot in the team for next season.

Fringe Nigeria international Isacc Success who ironically is the longest serving Nigerian at the club has been told to look elsewhere. The club even accepted an offer from Udinese to have him on loan but he is reluctant and insist he want to fight for his spot in the team.

Nigeria youth international Tom Dele Bashiru has also been told he will be better off going out on loan after spending a year out on the sideline. The idea is to go to a team where he is sure to get games to help him return to the shape he was before the injury.

Aside the duo, the club is said to be unhappy with the performance and lifestyle of new signing Dennis. The Nigerian has so far failed to impress in pre season games and his addiction to social media has also pitched him against the team.

It’s not the first time that Dennis has had issues relating to his conduct on and off the pitch. He had same issues at Club Brugge and later Cologne where he went on loan.

Four caps Nigeria international winger Anayo Iwuala was recently signed by Esperance of Tunisia for $500,000 from Nigeria Professional Football League side Enyimba FC of Aba.

Enyimba initially placed a €1 million price tag on the 22 year old but were forced to drop their valuation after the winger’s not too impressive run of games for the senior national team of Nigeria but the message has been passed already.

Teams from Denmark, Greece, France and Belgium all made checks on him and also made contacts with Enyimba but the highest offer Enyimba got was €200,000, which is even not a straight cash deal as it involves several clauses and add ons.

Enyimba went from getting multiple enquiries to having no team from Europe check on the speedy ace for a month. Between that time teams from North Africa who have been told Anayo will only move to a team in Europe crept back into the picture.

This time around they found a way of getting to the player himself and made him to be aware of the financial package that is in for him if he decide to sign the dotted lines. The teams we were made to understand were Pyramids FC of Egypt, Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Esperance of Tunisia.

Esperance were the first to officially contact Enyimba with an offer of $200,000 which was outrightly rejected by Enyimba. Their next bid was $250,000 but just like the first it was knocked back by Enyimba.

Anayo was growing impatient over the impasse as he has his mind made up on the move. Enyimba in order not to act unreasonable told Esperance a deal will be concluded if they accept to pay $500,000.

The Tunisians were not convinced he is worth that amount of money but when the representatives of the winger leaked interest from Pyramids and Raja Casablanca to them they were forced to accelerate things at that price.

Two days after an agreement was reached, Pyramids submitted their first bid which was around $600,000 but at that stage Enyimba have already given their words to Esperance.

However the deal almost collapsed when Raja offered $700,000 but just like it was with the bid from Pyramids, Enyimba respected their agreement with Esperance but went a step further by adding a 20% sell on clause to the deal.

Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side Nasarawa United say they are in the dark over the transfer of defender Tebo Franklin to Swedish side BK Hacken.

The Swedish side announced the signing of the defender on an initial loan deal with the option of handing him a four year deal base on the success of his stay on loan.

BK Hacken in a statement revealed they have been tracking the defender for a while as a matter of fact since spotting him at the famous Tiki Taka tournament two years ago.

In their statement, Nasarawa United wasn’t mentioned as the team where he was signed from leading OwnGoalNigeria.com to ask questions over the move.

“ He lied to us because he told us he was going to the embassy to submit his passport for a visa as he aimed to travel after our last assignment which was the Aiteo Cup final that we lost. We were shocked to read that he has signed for a team in Sweden and even started training”, a club official told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

However a source close to the player revealed they were outsmarted by the player’s representatives who have kept the player on loan at the club for two seasons.

“ Nasarawa United didn’t act like a top club. Tebo was on loan for two seasons at the club, that is enough time to make the deal permanent but they didn’t and his representatives took advantage of it to move him without their knowledge”, he said.

“ I can tell you that his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) won’t be Issues by Nasarawa United because his loan deals has expired. They don’t even have a percentage of his transfer fee if he eventually leave on a permanent deal”.

The chances of Genk Nigerian forward Paul Onuachu leaving the team this summer looks unlikely owing to the fact that clubs are unwilling to meet his valuation.

Onuachu scored 35 goals for Genk last season and as expected it caught the attention of teams around Europe and it led to Genk slamming a €25 million price tag on him.

The 26 year old who finished as the top scorer and also Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the Belgium league appears to have already accepted his faith and knuckle down to work at the club.

He has scored two goals in his last two games in all competitions amidst rumors of the club pulling the plug on a deal to sign Ike Ugbo from Chelsea, who is seen by many as the top pick in the likely departure of the Nigerian.

“ A move away from Genk looks bleak at the moment for obvious reasons. I will say 70% chance of him staying at the moment. We keep trying to help achieve his ambitions of moving to another league but if it isn’t possible. He will continue at Genk”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jo Bonfrere says the problem of the senior national team of Nigeria in recent times has to do with poor usage of players and not the quality of the players.

The man who piloted Nigeria to Africa’s first ever gold at the Olympics in 1996 with Nigeria beating Argentina 3-2 made this known in an interview with Nigerian online portal The Cable.

While speaking on a range of issues that has to do with Nigerian football, the Dutch coach who was assistant to Clemens Westerhoff in 1994 when Nigeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time believe the present team still has quality players.

He however lamented the usage of the players and blame it for the recent dwindling performance of the team under the tutelage of German coach Gernot Rohr, Rohr has been at the helm since 2016.

“Nigeria football is not the quality that I think the nation’s football should be in right now. Nigeria football must be respected across the continent. We have very good players in the national team but the thing is that they use them wrongly on the pitch of play. That’s the problem”, he said in the interview.

Kelechi Iheanacho match winning goal against Manchester City in the community shield has earned him high praises from Leicester City legend Gary Lineker.

The Nigerian was introduced in the second half against his former side and he ended up scoring the lone goal of the game, which is the traditional curtain raiser for the return of league football in England.

Iheanacho was fouled late into the game by Nathan Ake after robbing the defender off the ball, the forward who missed a penalty in a pre season game last week showed no nerves as he stepped up to bury the spot kick.

Lineker was impressed with his courage to step up for the kick and he praised the 24 year old as a player who thrives in big games, a mentality which comes with talented players “ He (Iheanacho) loves to do it in games like this. Talented players show their worth in big games”, Lineker said.

He backed the forward to continue to prove his worth in the Leicester City team next season despite the arrival of Patson Daka and the return of Harvey Barnes to full fitness “ Every player will get his chance and when you do. Grab it like Iheanacho. Daka, Vardy, Barnes, Perez it’s nice to have them all”.

When young Arsenal goalkeeper Ovie Ejeheri signed professional terms with Arsenal as announced by the club three days ago. It automatically sparked a debate about his international future.

The 18 year old who is highly rated within the corridors of the Emirate is eligible for Uganda, Nigeria and England but he has only been called up by the latter but he didn’t get to play as the tournament was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Born in London to a Nigerian father and a Ugandan mother he told Goal in an interview early this year that his aim is to be the first choice goalkeeper of the Nigerian team in three years time.

His statement no doubt has given Nigeria an edge if it comes to a tug of war over his international future, when he makes the expected step up that many has predicted for him in the future.

Esperance of Tunisia will in the coming days conclude a deal to sign Enyimba FC of Aba forward Anayo Iwuala, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

The Tunisian side as reported by this portal have been in talks with Enyimba for a while now and a deal is set to happen in the coming days with paperworks already in progress.

We gathered it will be a four year deal with an annual increase in his wages which is a little above $45,000 a month for a start, amounting to over 20 million naira in Nigerian currency.

Capped four times by Nigeria at senior level , the 22 year old is keen on a move abroad with a late interest from a Dutch side making him to stall on signing the dotted lines even though the financial package is tempting.

His desire is to play for a team in Europe but so far only Esperance have come close to matching the €1 million transfer tag slammed on him by Enyimba. The Tunisian side are willing to pay around $450,000 including add ons.