2019 Nigeria U17 forward Olakunle Olusegun is closing in on a move to Russian side Kuban Krasnodar from Danish second division side Fremad Amager, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

The 19 year old according to some will likely join the Russian side on a free transfer as his contract with the Danish side expired on the 1st of July. He joined Fremad from second division Nigerian team ABS FC of Ilorin.

However, the Russian media are reporting that he will be signed from the Danish side where it is believed that Fremad took up the option of extending his deal after the expiration of his initial two year deal.

In Denmark he scored 12 goals and four assists in the 40 games he played in all competitions. For the Nigeria U17 team he found the back of the net seven times in ten games.

At the WAFU-UFOA B qualifiers he won the top scorer award with four goals and netted the winner against Angola in the group stage of the U17 AFCON.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has given his opinion on the recently concluded AFCON 2021 draws held in Cameroon.

His team the Super Eagles of Nigeria will prosecute their group games from Group B where they will take on Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau for a spot in the round of 16.

Speaking on the challenge of pulling through the group. The coach who prior to the draws picked Egypt as one of the teams he will love to avoid in the group stages said he is confident his wards can pull through the group.

He however said it won’t be easy as he sees the first game against arch rivals and record AFCON winners Egypt a very important game in their quest to be in the next round at the tournament.

In 2019 he guided Nigeria to a third place finish but that won’t be enough next year as his stay as coach of the Nigerian team is only guaranteed if he wins the tournament per the terms of his last contract.

“First game is already very important, Nigeria against Egypt . It will be a very good game then we will see. The first goal is qualification to the round of 16. It’s not an easy group but we are very confident”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com shortly after the draws.

Barring a last minute change of mind Valentine Ozornwafor will leave Turkish giants Galatasary on a season long loan deal to Denizlispor, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Capped three times by Nigeria at senior level, the former Enyimba defender who excelled with the Nigeria U20 team in 2019 hasn’t found it easy breaking into the first team set up at the Turkish side.

Last season upon his return from a six months loan spell in Spain with Almeria he played only eight minutes, which was in the 6-0 win over Genclerbirligi and he operated as a defensive midfielder instead of his main role as a central defender.

Since moving to Europe in 2019, he has only played in six games with five coming during his spell on loan to Almeria. He will be hoping to get more game time at Denizlispor to further aid his career growth.

Egypt national team coach Hossam El-Badry has reacted to the recently concluded draws that will see his side open their campaign in group D against Nigeria.

They will also face Sudan and Guinea Bissau in the other group games but it’s the cash against Nigeria seen by many as the main rival in the group that has generated much debate.

Both countries have met eight times with Nigeria winning three and drawing three. They have only lost to Egypt twice in the history of the tournament but Badry is confident that his team will progress from the group .

He called the group a balanced but not easy group as all teams have shown remarkable improvements in the last few years and just like his team they also have good players.

“Our group was quite balanced and not easy due to the improvement of all these teams, who also have great players,” El-Badry told the press.

“I have great confidence in God and in the capabilities the players to overcome this group and perform well to satisfy the aspirations of the Egyptian fans.

The first team squad of English Premier League side Everton were made to vote for the most skillful player in the team in a video posted on their official Twitter handle.

Players of the team led by captain Seamus Coleman were asked to name the player who usually lights up training session with skills and the trio of Alex Iwobi, James Rodriguez and Demarai Gray got the most mention.

Majority of the squad which include regular players like Coleman, Abdoulaye Doucore, Mason Holgate, Androos Townsend and Tom Davies picked the 25 year old who was signed from Arsenal two years ago as the most skillful in training.

In their reaction, fans of the club who were stunned at the revelation implore coach Rafael Benitez to work on the confidence of the winger who love to play as a creative midfielder in order for him to replicate his form in training in real match situation.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr will later today release the list of players who will prosecute the Super Eagles opening fixtures in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Nigeria will take on Liberia on the 3rd of September in Lagos before traveling to play Cape Verde In four days time as they bid to make a good start to the qualifiers.

Rohr has already submitted his list to the Super Eagles with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) expected to make the list public in the next 24 hours, OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered.

We gathered English Premier League new boys led by Waftord’s trio Oghenekaro Etebo, Emmanuel Dennis and William Troost Ekong as expected were all named in the squad for the games. Brentford’s Frank Onyeka was also handed a return.

Aside the quartet, the trio of Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi who are all established stars in the English Premier League were also named in the squad.

The senior national team of Nigeria have been drawn in group D of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which will take place in Cameroon in the just concluded draws for the tournament.

Nigeria’s first group game will be against Egypt with the other group games coming against fellow group D teams in Sudan and Guinea-Bissau as they aim to go a step further than the bronze they won at the 2019 edition.

Egypt is one of the team coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr said he will love to avoid prior to the draws but he will take solace in the fact that they will be playing the Pharaohs first before engaging other weaker group opponents on paper.

Almeria Nigerian striker Sadiq Umar once again showed why he is so valuable to the ambition of the club in gaining promotion to the La Liga with a goal in their league opener against Cartagena.

Sadiq opened scoring with a strong run to help Almeria to a 3-1 win as they begin another bid to secure promotion to the Spanish top flight after failing to do so via the play offs last season.

Linked with a move away from the team after scoring 22 goals in all competitions last season. He is still at the club as many interested teams are yet to meet up with his price tag of €30 million.

Sources close to the player told this portal that he is still hopeful of a move before the transfer window closes at the end of the month but if nothing happens, he will be fully committed to the course of Almeria to make it to the top flight.

A call up to the senior national team of Nigeria for the start of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers is also on the horizon for the 24 year old, who has twice not been able to honour the invitation due to club commitment.

Esperance of Tunisia have announced the invitation of their new signing Anayo Iwuala to the senior national team of Nigeria for the World Cup 2022 qualifiers which starts in September.

Nigeria will take on Liberia in Lagos on the 3rd before traveling to take on Cape Verde four days later. Iwuala has been included in the expanded list according to a post on the Twitter handle of his new team.

Signed for a fee of $500,000 from Enyimba FC of Aba, the winger is yet to resume at his new side as he returned back to Nigeria three days after he was officially unveiled.

What is still unclear is if he is in the main list for the game or on standby as per the post made by his new side used the word expanded. He is however in line for a 5th cap with the senior national team of Nigeria.

Victor Osimhen recent run in front of goal for the Super Eagles has seen his goal count rise to six in ten games for the Nigerian team. He also has six assists to his name.

Five of his six goals came during the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations with the other coming in the 2-2 friendly draw against Ukraine. Overall he has played 11 games for the senior national team of Nigeria.

As the team get set for the start of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and also the Africa Cup of Nations next year. The goal will be for the Napoli striker to return to the form that saw him score 11 goals in ten games at the 2015 Under-17 World Cup.

One man who can easily set him on that path is Moses Simon, who has shown with his performance for Nantes that he has what it takes to set up goals from his role on the left side of attack.

He presently has three assists from two games but beyond this season’s tally he has 17 assists in 68 games for Nantes, one less than his total for Gent of Belgium but in twice as many games.

It shows he has modeled his game since moving to Nantes with the focus more on setting up his teammates with slick cut backs, pin point crosses and well weighted passes when the need arises.

His creative is what coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr should be keen on exploring when the qualifiers get underway with the team currently short in the area of creative midfielders.

Simon and Osimhen combo will no doubt produce the spark the Super Eagles have lacked in certain games in front of goal. Rohr will do well to ensure that the Nantes winger gets same role he enjoys at his clubside.

In the Super Eagles he has played in similar role but with a specific instruction to help out in defence, hence limiting his ability to create upfront. That has to change as the team shape up for the start of the qualifiers on the 3rd of September against Liberia in Lagos.