Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has submitted a list of 35 players to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the upcoming friendly games in Austria in June.

The list which will be made public by next week we gathered has two new players who are were rewarded for their fine form for their respective European team with a call up to the senior team of Nigeria.

Aside the duo, the coach stuck with the majority of players who he has been working with the past few years since he was appointed coach of the team.

“ Just two new names for now. Players who have done well so far. The rest is mainly the ones who have been with the team the past few years. It should be released in two weeks time”, a source told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Super Eagles will no doubt play two games during the June international window for national teams after the postponement of the start of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Talks are presently advanced with the African duo of Cameroon and Senegal with Germany also an option which Rohr wants ahead of the start of the World Cup qualifiers.

Victor Osimhen goal scoring run finally came to an end as Napoli move up to second in the Serie A with a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing of Udinese.

Osimhen who has five goals in his last four consecutive games was pivotal in the first Napoli goal with Piotr Zielinski turning home a rebound from his effort in the 29th minute.

Fabian weigh in with the second three minutes later but Stefano Okaka reduced the deficit for Udinese before the break to peg scores at 2-1 at half time.

Further goals from Hirving Lozano, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Lorenzo Isigne completed the route which catapulted Napoli into second spot, one point ahead of Atalanta who are going to be in action tomorrow against Genoa.

Manchester City have been crowned champions of the English Premier League after second place Manchester United were beaten 2-1 by Leicester City.

Luke Thomas opened scoring for the Foxes in the 10th minute but five minutes later Mason Greenwood drew United level. A score which both teams took into the half time break.

Leicester City returned from the break more determined to snatch all three points to keep their hope of playing in next season UEFA Champions League alive, they were duly rewarded when Caglar Soyoncu rose highest unchallenged to head home a corner kick from Marc Albrighton.

Leicester City hang on to claim all three points with their Nigerian duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho lasting the duration of the game.

Ndidi was industrious as ever in the middle of the park while Iheanacho was his usual lively self linking up play and having attempts at goal. He forced a fine save of David De Gea few minutes before they scored the winner.

The win means Manchester City now have an unassailable lead in first position with three games left to play with second placed Man United ten points behind.

Coach of the English national team Gareth Southgate is under immense pressure to cap U21 ace Ebere Eze ahead of the start of the European Championship.

See who is also eligible for Nigeria has also boosted his chances with near faultless performance the past omw month with coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr describing him as the most attack conscious player he has seen in a while.

“This is a wonderful player, Ebere Eze is one of the best offensive midfielders I’ve ever seen in England and I would like to have him with us, but you know that he can also play for England and already played for one team in England,” Rohr said to Elegbete TV Sports.

“I sent him a message and in this message, I showed the interest Nigeria has to get him in this team so he replied and he said he has to think about it, so it is not the moment to speak too much about it.

Since then, there have been lots of articles, opinions and reports on what Eze will add to the English team at the Euros with many saying he could be the perfect replacement for Jack Grealish, who is an injury doubt for the tournament.

Also there have been suggestions that the decision of UEFA to increase the numbers of players in a nations squad to 26 from 23 should see the likes of Eze getting a look in base on what he has done so far at Crystal Palace.

Even if he ends up missing out on the squad for the tournament, England can be rest assured that he is keen on representing them at least at the moment. Something he has said severally.

Nigeria still holds an interest in him but it is very unlikely he will consider them at the moment when he is in the discussion for a call up to the English team that he has always loved to play for.

Almeria of Spain are feeling uneasy over the interest of legendary football striker Ronaldo De Lima in their star forward Sadiq Umar, Owngoalnigeria.comunderstands.

The Real Valladolid owner has made two attempts to lure the Nigerian to his team but to no avail but with the summer transfer window approaching, the fear is that Sadiq might have a change of heart.

Concerns in the camp of Almeria is bothering on the fact that if they don’t go up and Valladolid come in with an offer, it could play into the head of the 24 years old who has scored 18 goals this season with six assists.

Real Valladolid are also not entirely safe from relegation as they are 17th on the La Liga table. One point ahead of the duo of Huesca and Elche who are placed 18th and 19th respectively on 30 points.

Sadiq’s immediate desire still remains firing Almeria back to the La Liga but if that doesn’t work he could be tempted to try something new particularly as he want to play at a level, where he can be an option for the senior national team of Nigeria.

The international future of Michael Olise has in the past few days dominated the news space with Algeria making a late attempt to snatch the 19 year old playmaker from Nigeria.

Olise is eligible for both nations including France but it is the two African nations who are presently going head to head for his service, with Nigeria slightly ahead as they even named him as a standby player in their last squad for the AFCON 2022 qualifiers.

Algeria are however not giving up on luring him with as they made approach to his representatives using his girlfriend who is from the North African country to approach him over playing for them.

Base on reports gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com, Olise who was voted the young player of the year in the English Championship has told made up his mind on representing Nigeria.

He has told his representatives that he is looking forward to making his debut later this year for Nigeria when they regroup next or possibly during the 2022 World Cup qualifiers later in the year.

Spanish giants Barcelona have been priced out of a move for Leicester City ace Wilfred Ndidi, Owngoalnigeria.com understands.

Ndidi is high on the radar of the team after distinguishing himself for the third season in a row in the English Premier League where Leicester City are gunning for a top four spot.

The Foxes valuation of Ndidi according to reports in the Spanish media has however placed a pause on the move as Barcelona can’t afford his price tag of €75 million.

Although he is seen as a direct competitor for legendary midfielder Sergio Busquet, Barcelona who are already in debt will rather look for other alternatives who will understudy the Spaniard before stepping into his shoes.

Three players in Rennes’s Eduardo Camavinga, Mikel Merino of Real Sociedad and Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli are now the main midfield target of the Blaugrana.

They are all within the budget of €50 million the club plan to spend on a midfielder as part of the rebuilding process after struggling to match previous height as the season winds up.

Kelechi Nwakali has come out strongly to deny quotes attributed to his elder brother Allwell Nwakali who said the on loan Huesca midfielder is considering dumping Nigeria for another country.

In an interview carried by many dailies in Nigeria, Allwell was quoted as saying that the former captain of the Nigeria U17, 20 and U23 teams is studying approach from
other countries about switching nationality.

“Some agents of foreign countries have approached Kelechi for a switch of allegiance so he would play for their national teams.

“Well, I cannot confirm if he has given it consideration because I know his wish to play for the Super Eagles. He is still studying the proposals and has yet to make a decision.

“For a player who wrote the name of Nigeria in global football by winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2015 as captain of the team, Nigeria is in his heart,” he said.

Nwakali took to Instagram to strongly deny the comment insisting that he is still committed as ever to play for Nigeria and will continue to work hard for a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria .

“ Contrary to reports circulating in the media, I remain committed to serving my country. It is always an honour to wear the green and white of Nigeria and it is my dream to continue to work hard until I am called upon”, he posted on Instagram.

“ I am hugely proud to have represented Nigeria at various levels and am grateful to have had these opportunities in my career thus far. I have never considered playing for another nation and continuing to play for Nigeria at international level remains my priority”, he concluded.

The agent of Nigeria international striker Victor Osimhen has hit back at those who questioned the heavy investment Napoli made in signing him from Ligue 1 side Lille.

Speaking on the back of his recent run of games which has seen him score five goals in his last four games to take his season tally to ten, the agent said he is more at home than he was when he first arrived in the summer.

He said the excellent atmosphere in the dressing room has also played a huge role , same as coach Gennaro Gattuso and of course his not paying attention to critics when he wasn’t scoring.

In an interview with Radio Kiss Kiss , he said Osimhen’s aim is to help Napoli to three more wins in order to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. A tournament he wants to dearly play in next season.

“Victor is happy about yesterday’s victory, he feels more and more at ease in this team and when you score a goal it gets easier. He is proud to wear the Napoli shirt and is keen to thank the club for their patience.”

“He is scoring like a machine because he enjoys having everyone’s trust and because of the excellent atmosphere in the locker room, which is helping him a lot. The negative judgments? We never gave them weight, we never listened to them.

“If a player is paid so much it is natural that the city expects the best performances straight away. Gattuso? The relationship with the coach is perfect, Rino is an excellent coach. Have we heard from Galtier about next year? I don’t know (laughs).

Maybe the coach has sent him a message to compliment him, but not to talk about next season’s Napoli. Victor’s goal is to win the last 3 games because he wants to play in the UEFA Champions League with Napoli.

Favourite system? The important thing is that he feels comfortable”, he concluded.

Nigeria will likely play three friendly games in June following the postponement of the start of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Already talks is at an advanced stage with African duo Senegal and Cameroon. Recent reports indicate that a date with Germany ahead of their campaign at Euros 2020 will likely happen.

Preliminary talks have been held between both countries with coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr playing a big role in the talks as he bid to keep his team busy.

Austria looks like the likely venue of the game if talks end up on a positive note with Nigeria keen on playing a quality European opposition with the team set to converge in Europe for the next international break.

For now deals to play Senegal and Cameroon respectively is at an advanced stage but that of Germany or possibly another European opposition hasn’t advanced but it could in the coming days.