The long awaited transfer of Nigeria international midfielder Frank Onyeka to newly promoted English Premier League side Brentford is just an announcement away from happening.

A deal has long been agreed and with medicals and work permitted sorted, an announcement was held up by other paper works which were yet to be approved by the English Premier League.

We gathered the deal had to be properly scrutinized by the English Premier League since it involves the transfer of a player from a team to another under same owner.

That process was concluded on Monday and with his traveling visa to England about to be sorted in the next few days he will arrive England where he will isolate for a while before an official announcement.

Sources close to the camp of the 23 year old told OwnGoalNigeria.com that an announcement is expected later this week but there is every tendency that it could drag on till next week.

Sevilla who are the front runners for the signing of Sadiq Umar from Almeria have been told what it will take to sigh the Nigerian before the end of the summer transfer window.

Almeria slashed the buyout clause of the forward from €60 million to €30 million but with a specific condition that any deal will involve the buying team giving them a player as part of the deal.

The idea is to use the player they will be getting to cushion the effect of the hit they took in lowering his buy out clause per reports exclusively gathered by OwnGoalNigeria.com editorial team.

Sadiq want to remain in the La Liga and his good relationship with the Sporting Director of Sevilla Monchi puts them In pole position to sign him ahead of other teams interested in his service.

As reported by this portal yesterday, Almeria are not in a hurry to let go of the forward who scored 20 goals last season in their failed bid to gain promotion to the La Liga. They are however waiting till August before making a final decision on his future which is more likely away from them.

Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi passed his first pre season drill with Liverpool as they officially got their pre season training camp underway in Austria yesterday.

The Nigerian was among the players who were went through lactate testing in which small groups took turns to perform the drill which is aimed at measuring the endurance levels with a series of runs at increasing speeds.

He came through unscathed and he will now be warming up for his first unofficial game in the colours of the team he signed for in 2015 but due to work permit he hasn’t been able to make his debut in any capacity.

Base on the fixtures released by Liverpool for pre season games. Awoniyi who spent last season on loan to Union Berlin in the German Bundesliga will likely make his debut today.

He will play some part in the close door 30 minutes friendly games against FC Wacker Innsbruck and VfB Stuttgart respectively. Both games are separated by a 45 minute interval.

23 year old Awoniyi who finished last season with five goals and three assists for Union Berlin could also face one of his former loan side Mainz 05 on Friday. He scored one goals during his stint with the team two season ago.

Belgium side Genk currently leads a host of other teams in the race to sign Chelsea striker Ike Ugbo who spent last season on loan to fellow Belgium side Cercle Brugge.

Ugbo who scored 16 goals last season is viewed by the club as a like for like signing for Paul Onuachu who is expected to seal a move to an unnamed team in the English Premier League.

Genk are in advanced negotiations for his sale with West Ham credited as the team that holds the most interest in signing the Nigerian. Ugbo fancies his chances of getting regular games at Genk more than any other club linked with his service.

The player and his representatives have picked the Belgium side ahead of Dutch sides Feyernoord and PSV. For now he isn’t interested in a move to Turkish side Besiktas as well.

He is available for a fee in the region of €3 million although Chelsea will reportedly demand a certain percentage in view of his future sale from any team he ends up joining before the end of the transfer window.

Nigeria International winger Samuel Kalu has made it clear that he want to leave Ligue 1 side Bordeaux before the end of the current transfer window.

Kalu and his representatives have already informed Bordeaux of their decision and the club say they won’t stand in his way but they want a fee in the region of €8 million as transfer fee.

The Nigerian haven’t had the best of time since joining the team in 2018 from Belgium side Gent and has been linked with a departure during all of the transfer windows since he joined the team.

However this time he is pushing really hard to leave following the relegation of Bordeaux to the French second division base on financial irregularities. They were relegated alongside Angers.

As for Bordeaux, the DNCG has decided to preliminarily relegate Les Girondins because of the decision made by current owners King Street to step back and place the club under the protection of a commercial court. Luxembourg businessman Gérard Lopez, who is attempting to finalise the acquisition of the club, has got the club to appeal the decision, and is confident that they will overturn. 

Per a report on Theathletic.com Oghenekaro Etebo who recently joined newly promoted English Premier League side Watford have been on the radar of the owners since 2014 while he was still playing for Warri Wolves in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Etebo joined the team on a season long loan deal from Stoke City with Watford having the option of signing him permanently next summer at the end of his loan.

However Gino Pozzo of the Pozzo family, the owners of both Serie A side Udinese and Watford first saw the Nigerian in 2014 when he came for trials at Udinese.

Below is excerpts from the article on Watford’s long standing interest in Etebo which finally came to fruition last week when he joined to swell the Nigerian contingent at the club.

“At last, finally you’re here,” Gino Pozzo is understood to have said when he greeted Oghenekaro Etebo, better known as Peter, at the Watford training ground. 

The warm greeting was a nod to a long-standing pursuit of the Nigerian from the Italian owner. The midfielder had a trial at Udinese in 2014 before returning to his club Warri Wolves back in Nigeria. 

Then he spent two years with Feirense in Portugal from 2016 to 2018, with the second season on loan at Las Palmas in Spain.

Pozzo again tried to sign him in 2018. “When he came into Stoke, there was an offer on the table from Watford, and he would have liked to have gone there,” says a source close to Etebo. 

“He weighed up the two options and felt Stoke (who had just been relegated) would be a good challenge having brought in players to get them back into the Premier League, which obviously didn’t materialise. 

The immediate future of Almeria striker Sadiq Umar is in Spain where he believe the style of football suit his style of play and he is not in anyway close to a move to Russian side Krasnodar.

One of the representative of the forward told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive chat that the reports of Sadiq closing in on a move to Russia are way off the mark as he only just returned to Spain.

Sadiq is back in Almeria for pre season training and at no point in time did he accept the offer of €2 million a year deal from Russian side Krasnodar according to his representative.

“ He just returned to Almeria for the start of pre season. How can he be close to a move when his dream is to remain in Spain where the pattern of play suits his style? For now his priority is to remain in Spain”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

“ Almeria are not in a hurry to let him leave and he is also not in a hurry to leave. We expect to get a clear picture of his future by August. Ignore anything you read for now”, he concluded.

Last season Sadiq who joined Almeria from Serbian side Partizan Belgrade scored a total of 28 goals with 8 coming before his late summer move to Almeria.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson says the English national team has perfected a strategy that will prevent promising players of Nigerian descent from switching allegiance to the Super Eagles.

Johnson made this known during a chat with the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick at Wembley after the final match of the European Championship yesterday.

Pinnick who was a guest at the game was wowed by the Prime Minister’s knowledge about Nigerian players during the course of their discussion on matters involving football.

Sources close to the NFF supremo told OwnGoalNigeria.com that Boris replied to a joke by Pinnick on how Nigeria tried to lure Bukayo Saka from representing England at senior level by saying its almost impossible for England to lose any promising player, base on new laid down process of players growth.

In the past players like Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina played for England at various youth levels before agreeing to switch nationality to Nigeria at senior level.

Bukayo Saka has emerged as a target for angry fans of the senior national team of England after his penalty miss in yesterday’s final match against Italy.

Italy and England were tied at 1-1 after regulation and extra time. Forcing the game into shoot outs to determine who lift the European 2020. England failed with three out of their five kicks with the trio of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Saka failing to convert.

Saka needed to convert from the spot to force the game into sudden death during the spot kick but had his effort saved by Gianluigi Donnaruma. The 19 year old who is of Nigerian descent hasn’t been spared by fans of the team.

A lot of people have defended the 19 year old including coach of the English team Gareth Southgate but some fans of the team have targeted him on social media.

On Instagram he was subjected to several insults with some having some racial connotations and also making reference to his Nigerian roots. One particular comment read “Go Back To Nigeria”.

The international future of newly promoted Arsenal first team goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo is solved already as he is already dreaming of playing for Nigeria at the next World Cup.

19 year old Okonkwo was handed fresh terms by Arsenal and also elevated to the position of third choice by coach Mikel Arteta ahead of the start of next season.

It has led to talks about his international future as he is eligible for Nigeria and England but sources close to the player told OwnGoalNigeria.com that he has already decided.

He was supposed to be a part of one of the youth teams of Nigeria but he got injured and was out for a while. He only returned towards the end of last season
and made 7 Premier League 2 appearances for Arsenal U23.

His quest to be a part of Nigeria’s team to the 2022 World Cup will see him compete against the trio of Maduka Okoye, Francis Uzoho and John Noble. Coach of the Nigerian team has stuck with the trio the last three games.