Former Chelsea full back Celestine Babayaro says Wilfred Ndidi should push for a move away from Leicester City if he receives offer from a team in the UEFA Champions League.

Ndidi has stamped his authority as one of the most respected defensive midfielders in the English Premier League for the past three seasons but it hasn’t been okay for Leicester to play in the UEFA Champions League.

Speaking to Owngoalnigeria.com, Babayaro said the 24 year old should be looking for an exit this summer as he deserve to play for a top team playing in Europe premier club tournament.

“ Ndidi has grown the past two years. He is at his peak and the time to move is now. When he gets to 25 and above most clubs won’t see the need to invest heavily on him as his resale value would have dropped”, he said.

“ If an offer comes in from a top team. I will advice him to take it up and move to a new challenge. If Leicester see his willingness to leave they won’t stop him. He should hand in a transfer request if need be”.

Highly respected scout of Italian Serie A side Roma Miriam Peruzzi is among 11 scouts in Abuja for the DN10 in collaboration with TBC sponsored scouting tournament.

Sighted at the venue of the tournament which is the Aguiyi Ironsi cantonment, the soft spoken lady explained her mission to Nigeria and why she picked the West Africa country as her destination for talent scouting.

“ Nigeria is by far one of the best countries when it comes to producing footballers with their population of over a 100 million. It’s only normal that we have talented footballers in that number”, she told Owngoalnigeria.com.

“ So far we have seen some talented players but we hope to see more who we can take to teams around Europe because we cover Spain, France and Germany as well not just Italy”, she concluded.

She praised the Nigerian agent Babawo Mohammed who is behind the initiative as one of the most hard working in the continent who has for seven years kept the tournament running.You can find the list of licensed and provably fair Bitcoin Casino sites at Bitpunter.io.

Former Nigeria international midfielder Raheem Lawal has taken a swipe at Daniel Amokachi claiming the former Super Eagles assistant coach made late head coach Stephen Keshi to axe him from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations team.

Lawal made the claim in a series of post on social media accusing Amokachi of convincing Keshi to drop him because of personal interest as he has players in the team that he wants to trade using the tournament as a platform.

In all he said he prayed for God to bless the soul of Stephen Keshi but has nothing but harsh words for Amokachi who now works as a special adviser to the president of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria went ahead to win the tournament in South Africa but Lawal who was among the last set of players to be dropped from the team said he was unfairly treated due to the fact that he had no one to stand for him.

In the post he also alleged that the list was called thrice on the day the squad was named as Amokachi wanted to be sure he is not included. He said it still hurts till date as he was denied the chance of picking up a national honor (MON).

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Clemens Westerhof has hit back at claims made by former international Tijani Babangida who accused him of unfairly dropping him from the 1994 Africa Cup of nations winning team.

Babangida said he was surprisingly dropped from the team despite the fact that he was at that time in the form of his life and playing at a level that no coach should ignore.

He claimed the Dutch coach wanted to be his representative but he refused and it led to a disagreement that brought about his exclusion from the team to the tournament in Tunisia.

, “I was too good to be left out of the squads,” adding, “I had issues with the coach (Westerhof), who wanted to manage me and I disagreed”,Babangida said.

Reacting to the allegations, Westerhof said although Babangida was at that time in his prime but they were other players ahead of him in the pecking order.

He said the decision was purely football related and nothing to do with managing the ex Ajax winger who according to him wasn’t at the same level with Finidi George that was picked ahead of him.

“I want to believe it was a joke because I doubt if he has forgotten that Nigeria had a glut of stars who were far ahead of him in the Eagles’ pecking order”, the coach said.

“Although I admit Babangida was a good player, he was not better than Finidi George, or Siasia, or Amokachi or Yekini. Who then should I have dropped fto make space for him?.

“I coached numerous Nigerian players who still appreciate my role in their development. Finidi was in Holland sometime ago and was asked who was his best coach in his career.

“He told the journalists that Westerhof had been his best coach ever. I am not boasting, I produced the best Nigerian team ever.”

Nigeria international defender Chidozie Awaziem has tied Kenneth Omeruo as the two most expensive defenders in Nigeria football history following his permanent transfer to Boavista.

As first reported by this portal, Boavista triggered the option of signing the 24 year old permanently from FC Porto after a successful loan spell where he helped keep the team in the top division.

The transfer fee of €5 million paid to Porto is a transfer record for Boavista as it is twice the amount they spent in 2020 to sign Reggie Cannon from MLS side FC Dallas who was their record signing before now.

With the fee Awaziem is also the joint most expensive Nigerian defender as it is same amount that Leganes paid Chelsea to sign Omeruo permanently after a successful loan spell. Last season both players were at Leganes but couldn’t help the team avoid relegation.

Hapoel Katamon goalkeeper Adebayo Adeleye has once again reached out to the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr to hand him a chance in the team.

Adeleye kept 19 clean sheets and conceded just 17 goals in 32 teams to lead Hapoel Katamon to promotion to the top league in Israel. He is seen as the best goalkeeper in the division last season.

With his team now confirmed to play in the top division next season, the 21 year old has his sight on becoming the best in the division and also hope it gets him a spot in the senior team of Nigeria.

“ My aim is to establish myself next season and hope it will catch the attention of the senior team coach of Nigeria. I have played for Nigeria at U17 level in the past. All I need is a chance to show what I am capable of doing with Super Eagles”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Emeka Chinonso has made the step up to the first team of Belgium side Gent following in the footsteps of his fellow Water FC of Abuja graduate Oladoye Adewale.

Three days ago Oladoye who like Chinonso played for the Nigeria U20 team was handed his first team now and yesterday was the turn for Chinonso to get a feel of what it takes to play at the top.

He was introduced with ten minutes left to play in the game against Mechelen which Gent won 2-1 to achieve their aim of playing in Europe next season. It was an eventful evening for the 19 year old.

With the game fully stretched he was booked in the fifth minute of time added on after regulation time. A prove of how ready he is to go physical if the need be.

Alongside Oladoye they will be eyeing a permanent spot in the first team of the team they joined two months ago with their impressive performance for the U23 earning them a first team spot.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has broken his long lasting tradition of allowing his first assistant pick players from the Nigeria Professional Football League for Invitation to his team.

Since taking over in 2016, Rohr has allowed his first assistant handle the B team of the senior team otherwise known as CHAN Eagles with largely players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Erstwhile assistants Salisu Yusuf and Imama Amapakabo all handled the B team but ahead of the friendly game against Mexico in July, the coach will pick his players instead of his first assistant Joseph Yobo.

Yobo replaced Imama as Rohr’s first assistant but the former Super Eagles captain won’t function in same capacity, Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered.

His lack of knowledge about players in the NPFL appears to be behind the reason for the decision with Rohr now taking over the task of picking players for the Mexico friendly game in Los Angeles.

Italian Serie A side Lazio are the odds on favourite to sign Nigeria international forward Simy Nwankwo from relegated Serie A side Crotone, Owngoalnigeria.comunderstands.

Simy has 21 goals with one round of matches to go in the Serie A and as expected his form has led to talks about a move to a team in the top division rather than go down to Serie B with Crotone.

We gathered Lazio are now in the driving set to clinch his signing with personal terms already agreed between both parties. All that is left is for the team reach an agreement on the worth of his transfer fee.

That is not expected to be a problem with Crotone keen on shipping out the 29 year old who has one year left on his deal as they aim to use the funds raised from his sale to strengthen their squad.

For now despite reports of interest from Genoa, Sampdoria and an unnamed team in England, it is Lazio who have firmed up their chase with an official approach to the player’s representative.