Former Nigeria international and 1982 Africa Cup of Nations winner Segun Odegbami says John Fashanu lied when he claimed he was asked to pay money before he can play for the senior national team of Nigeria.

On Saturday in an interview with OJB sport, the one cap England international claimed then coach of the Super Eagles Otto Gloria asked him to pay around 1 million naira if he wants to play for his team in the early 80’s.

He claimed he was twice turned down by the coach who insist he must pay before he is granted the chance to play for Nigeria hence his decision to play for England.

“The late MKO Abiola invited me to come play for my country Nigeria, I was so happy to train with team.

“And I trained for two days and the coach Otto Gloria came to me and said; Big Fash you haven’t paid your money. I said what ? He said you’ve not paid your money.

“And then I asked, pay my money for what ? He then replied asking me to pay my money in order to play for the Super Eagles, ₦1.something Naira he requested from me. As at now that’d be like ₦5M. He now sent me back home with the statement saying, if you haven’t got the money you can’t play”, he was quoted as saying.

“I came back the second time, same thing. I came back the third time he still said the same thing saying Fashanu if you’re not gonna pay the money why don’t you leave it here. You don’t speak Yoruba, Hausa nor Igbo and you don’t fit into the team. Why don’t you go back to England and play for the three Lions in the process becoming the first Nigerian to play for England and stay away from Nigeria.

”I was disappointed disappointed, I was disheartened and very upset but I did it as I became the first Nigerian to play for England.”

In a swift reaction, Odegbami who was an integral part of the team back then said there is no iota of truth in Fashanu’s claim in a statement made available to OwnGoalNigeria.com.

John Fashanu could never have said what he is quoted to have said. Some of us are still alive, and an recall every second of his invitation, his entry and exit from the national team. It was so short it almost did not happen. Justice, was the Superstar at the time, and even he could not have made the Eagles because his style was unsuitable here then. This is either a misquote or fiction, the figment of someone’s imagination. 

If money was to be demanded at that time it would never have been from John. N1 MILLION naira? That was I million Pounds then. Not possible in a million years! 

Go and check how much the average English player earned, not to talk of thevreal Superstars of English football. The era was completely different and Nigerians were not very impressed with players from Europe then. It was in every facet of life..only mostly those students that could not get an admission into Nigerian universities went abroad as a second choice, for example. Thats the nature of Nigeria even in 1980/1981.

Nigeria was brimming with so much local talent that diasporans were never even an option, not to talk of the first option. John could not have fitted into the Nigerian team at the time. He was too young and too raw. I was right there and discussed him with Otto Gloria because I was the Captain. When he came he did not even get a look in. He did not leave on his own.

He was good for the team he played for in English football at the time with his style of play, but would not have found room in the Green Eagles of that particular time. Otto Gloria is dead so he can’t defend himself. He was one of the most respected coaches in the world at the time, former coach of Portugal when Eusebio was a player, and President of the Brazillian Coaches Association.

This story is the unkindest cut to the contributions of a decent man who came and did his best for Nigeria, without blemish. Wrong to smear his name unnecessarily without just cause.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr will later today release the list of players who will represent Nigeria when they begin the race to be at the 2022 World Cup next month.

Nigeria will take on Liberia on the 3rd of September in Lagos before a trip to play Cape Verde four days later and ahead of the game Rohr has called up 25 players.

OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered that five midfielders were picked by the German coach with two players in Omonia Nicosia’s Shehu Abdullahi and Marcus Abraham of Portuguese side CD Feirense on standby.

Frank Onyeka of newly promoted English Premier League side Brentford was as expected handed a recall to team after a fine start to his career in England with the Bees.

Oghenekaro Etebo keeps his place in the squad much to his fine performance as well for Watford in the two games so far and he will be hoping to partner Wilfred Ndidi in the middle.

The duo of Alex Iwobi and Joe Aribo of Everton and Rangers respectively completes the list of midfielders called up for the first two games in the qualifiers.

– Onyeka
– Ndidi
– Etebo
– Iwobi
– Aribo

Standby:Shehu and Marcus Abraham

Coach of Napoli Luciano Spalleti says the decision to send Victor Osimhen off in their 2-0 win over Venezia in their first game of the new Serie A was the right call.

The Nigerian was shown a straight red card in the 23rd minute for an alleged punch on Venezia defender Daan Heymans during a tussle for space in the box with Napoli about to take a corner kick.

It wasn’t the type of start the Nigerian has hoped for after a scintillating performance in pre season with many tipping him to surpass his last season tally of ten goals and three assists.

Spalleti wasn’t impressed with the Nigerian and warned him to be well behaved as he will always be grabbed in the box by opposition defenders, hence he has to be less aggressive.

He said he spoke with the referee over the reason why Osimhen was sent off and he is satisfied with the explanation behind the sending off.

”Referee Aureliano was very correct when he explained it to me. Osimhen has to pay attention to his emotional reactions, he is a strong attacker and all the defenders will try to help themselves by limiting his physical exuberance. He will always have his hands on his opponents”, He explained.

The red card is the second for Osimhen since his record breaking move to the team, the first came last season in the Europa League tie away to Real Sociedad in October last year.

Coach of French Ligue 1 side Nantes says injury to their talisman Moses Simon played a role in his team’s 0-1 derby loss to Rennes in the Ligue 1.

Speaking in the post match conference Antoine Kambouare explained that it was difficult for his team to cope following the loss of Simon who is important to their set up just like fellow forward Randal Kolo Muani.

He said Simon who has assisted all of the three goals they have scored this season in Ligue 1 suffered discomfort in his muscle hence the decision to substitute him. A move which hampered their chances of getting a good result in the game.

“We know the importance of Simon and Kolo Muani. I hate to complain. It’s like that . You have to be cohesive and show even more energy. We can do a lot better, if we had won , we would not have talked about the absentees”, he explained.

Nigeria international left back Zaidu Sanusi is not having the best of time at Portuguese side FC Porto has he has fallen out of favour just three games into the season.

The Nigerian joined the club one year ago from Santa Clara but after an impressive start to his career at the club, he suffered a dip in form towards the end of last season. He was subsequently benched in some games.

He appeared to have won back his spot when he started their first league game of the season against Belenenses which they won 2-0 but he dropped to the bench in the next game against Famalicao.

Zaidu was introduced for Wilson Manafa in the 71st minute of the 2-1 win and he nearly cost Porto all three points when he lost possession in a clumsy manner allowing Famalicao to equalize. The goal was however ruled out for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) saving his blushes.

Faced with the prospect of playing second fiddle to newly signed left back Wendell from Bayern Leverkusen, Zaidu it seems has more than just the Brazilian ahead of him.

In yesterday’s game against Maritimo which ended in a 1-1 draw, their was no spot for the Nigerian in the matchday squad with 34 year old Spaniard Ivan Marcano starting and Manafa named on the bench.

Coach Sergio Conceicao made no mention of Zaidu while explaining his decision to play Marcano who is predominantly a centre back at left back. Wendell is expected to be in the team for their next match further pushing Zaidu down the pecking order.

”

Marcano has been giving good indications, he didn’t make it this week and trained in that position. We’ve been working for a few weeks now and I thought it was time to get Marcano into it. He did well and played a good game, it’s a pity we weren’t able to celebrate the victory on his return”, he explained.

Taiwo Awoniyi continue his goal scoring run with another goal in his third consecutive game for Union Berlin as they force Hoffenheim to a 2-2 draw in the Bundesliga.

Signed on a record deal from Liverpool, the 24 year old who opened his season goal account in the Bundesliga showed good instinct to follow up his initial effort which was saved to draw his side level.

His goal helped his team pick up a 2-2 draw same way his lone strike handed them a point last weekend against Bayern Leverkusen. In midweek he hit a brace in the Europa Conference League 4-0 away win over Finnish side KuPS.

So far he has scored four goals in the first three games of the season with an assist as well to his name. Such has been his performance that fans of the team nicknamed him Union Berlin Erling Haaland.

Coach of Scottish Premier League Champions Rangers Steven Gerrard has once again praised Nigerian midfielder Joe Aribo for his goal in their 4-2 win over Ross County.

25 year old Nigerian opened his season account with a spectacular curler from the edge of the box to hand his side the lead in the 15th minute, the goal set the tone for the win as they scored three other goals.

Speaking after the game, Gerrard praised the Nigerian for his effort describing the goal as fantastic and he urged the midfielder to get into more goal scoring positions as the season progresses.

“I think that has been coming. Joe was a little bit frustrated through the week, but that is what Joe Aribo is all about – driving up to people and being aggressive, breaking the rules and it was a fantastic finish”, he said after the game.

“We want him to keep doing that and we want him to keep adding goals and he has got the license in the midfield three when we name that three to go forward and be a bit more ambitious.”

Last season, Aribo scored six goals in 25 games while also setting up four goals. His goals was three times more than the total he got in his debut season at the club although he also had double of his assist count for last season.

Coach of Villarreal Unai Emery has confirmed that Samuel Chukwueze won’t be involved with the senior national team of Nigeria after leaving him out of the team for their Saturday’s La Liga game against Espanyol.

Chukwueze hasn’t recovered from the injury he sustained on the 6th of May in the Europa League semi final game against Arsenal. It seems he will likely return after the international round of games.

Emery while speaking on players who won’t be in the squad for the Espanyol game named the Nigerian and with one more round of games before the international break he will definitely miss out of the Super Eagles team.

”We’re travelling without three key players (Dani Parejo, Samu Chukwueze and Pau Torres) which is going to give opportunities to other players. We need to work well, have a positive mentality and ensure that the players are prepared”, the coach said.

Nigeria will open their campaign to be at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a game against Liberia on the 3rd of September in Lagos before traveling to take on Cape Verde four days later.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has explained why he didn’t call up any new player in the squad of the Super Eagles for the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers.

Rohr will be making his list of players for the upcoming games against Liberia and Cape Verde respectively public next week but as first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the coach didn’t include any new player in the list.

According to Rohr, the decision is borne out of the fact that the qualifiers isn’t the right avenue to try out new players as he sees all games as very important to their plan of finishing top of their group.

The coach said he trust the players he has in his team at the moment to get the desired result “ We have a team that we trust,” Rohr said.

“Bringing in new players to the team at this time of the season is not the best moment because we will only have one or two training sessions to prepare for a match.”