Fans of Italian Serie A side AS Roma have urged incoming coach of the team Jose Mourinho to bring back former youth team striker Sadiq Umar who was allowed to leave the club on a permanent deal two seasons ago.

Sadiq rose from the youth ranks to the main team of the Serie A side in 2016 but instability in the coaching department of the first team saw his game time limited with other coaches going for other players in his position.

He was sent on loan to several teams but not until two seasons ago did he come to live at Serbian side Partizan Belgrade who were quick in turning his loan deal into a permanent one before trading him off to Almeria last summer.

At Almeria he has emerged as their go to man for goals in their quest to gain promotion to the La Liga with 18 goals and five assists in 33 games this season.

His form hasn’t gone unnoticed with fans of his former team Roma naming him as one of the young forwards the club should aim to sign when they start their rebuild under Mourinho next season.

Speaking on a forum created for the fans, they call on the coach freshen up the attack with a young forward like Sadiq with their top striker Edin Dzeko now 35 years old.

Mujaid Sadick Aliu has emerged as one of the players relegated German side Schalke 04 plan to sign as part of the rebuilding process of the club.

Schalke 04 want an immediate return to the Bundesliga and the 21 year old is seen as one player who can help in that regard and talks are already underway regarding a deal worth around €2 million to sign him from Deportivo La Coruna.

Sadick who holds the record of the youngest debutant for the club in the La Liga when he made his debut against Villarreal in May 2018 has been one of their standout players for Deportivo La Coruna who are now in the Spanish 3rd division.

So far he has only missed one game and that was due to suspension. He has started in 21 out of their 22 games playing a leading role in their going top to the table in view of promotion to the second division.

A host of second division teams and even some La Liga teams have shown interest in signing him but for now it’s Schalke 04 interest that is seen as the most concrete among all.

With the 3rd division league coming to an end this Sunday, there is every chance that the defender who was born in Spain to a born to a Nigerian mother and a Ghanaian father won’t be around next season.

He is eligible for Nigeria, Ghana and Spain at international level but for now he has only represented Spain at two different youth levels, all that could change with a strong showing next season be it at Deportivo or elsewhere.

Enyimba FC of Aba winger Anayo Iwuala is the subject of a bid of around €500,000 from French Ligue 1 side Angers, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The offer is coming 48 hours after Belgium side KAS Eupen submitted a bid in the region of €350,000 for the 22 year old, who is valued at €1 million by Enyimba.

So far the offer from Angers is the closest to their valuation of the former Delta Force prospect who has two caps for the senior national team but Enyimba are still holding on for more money.

Talks are believed to be progressing nicely even though both teams are poles apart in their valuation of the player who is expected to leave the team before the end of the summer transfer window in Europe.

Enyimba are opened to letting him leave for less than the price tag of €1 million but they will demand a higher percentage inserted as sell on clause and also add ons.

The Ekiti State Referees Council has placed an indefinite ban on two referees from it’s chapter who were found guilty of collecting bribes to fix games.

In a judgement after investigation, the council revealed that the duo of Kayode Onilearo and Omotoye Toyese were culpable of collecting money in different sums to the tune of around 300,000 Naira to fix a game in the recently concluded Nigeria League One (NLO) play off.

They were accused of collecting money from two teams to the tune of 100,000 Naira from Akure City Football Club and another 70,000 Naira in three places from teams.

The duo were instructed to remit the total money collected to the coffers of the council with the aim of the indefinite ban a way of allowing peace to reign in the council, and to serve as a deterrent to others.

Already the board of the NLO has already placed indefinite ban on the duo over the nefarious act but the games which they fixed after collecting the sum wasn’t mentioned by both bodies.

Per reports from respected Italian sports publication La Gazzetta dello Sport, the president of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis has concluded plans to replace incumbent coach Gennaro Gattuso with Luciano Spalletti.

The president want the coach to kickstart a new era for the team which will see the trio of Victor Osimhen, Hirving Lozano and Piotr Zielinski play in a 4-2-3-1 formation next season.

According to the publication, Spalletti was one of the first coaches contacted by the president alongside Rafa Benitez and Walter Mazzari in January when the club slumped into a crisis following a poor run of results.

However the president decided to continue with Gattuso until at least the end of the season and the coach could remain in charge if they are able to make it to the UEFA Champions League .

For Gattuso he has also instructed his agent Jorge Mendez to suspend talks over a new deal with Roma until the end of season where he will also make a decision on continuing with the team or not.

Italian giants AC Milan have gone cold on plans to sign Genk Nigerian forward Paul Onuachu, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The desire by the Milan side to sign the Nigeria international who has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season was communicated to the hierarchy of Genk and the player’s representatives.

His representatives reveal that Genk will demand a minimum of At least €25 million which the Italian side found a little bit on the high side considering the age of the lanky forward.

26 year old Onuachu is seen as a player with little or no resale value hence Milan reluctance to meet what is for now seen as his valuation by Genk who signed the forward for around €6 million in the summer of 2019 from Danish side Midtjylland.

Bar Milan, other teams are also looking at the chances of signing him this summer with Genk no opposed to letting him leave even though he still has a contract that runs till the summer of 2024.

The history of English football is one of the richest in history. After all, the country first documented the word “football”, home of the old club, the oldest competition, and the first nation to have a football league. From its medieval roots in the 13th century to the creation of the first club in 1863, England is considered the home of football by many.

Today, the Premier League is the main national football championship, becoming the symbol of modern football. With an audience exploding inside and outside England, they managed to transform a national championship into a product of extreme success both in the sports market and outside it.

One of the main features that make the Premier League a symbol of modern football is multiculturalism, present in athletes, coaches, and foreign ideals that make English football more interesting.

But what has this new diverse culture caused not only in the Premier League but also in the English football team? Let’s understand it a little more.

The start of the internationalization

After a difficult time in English football, including the closing of clubs after the Second World War and also the banning of them from European competitions for some years, this change came to reshape football in England.

Seeing Italy at its peak from the 1980s and Spain and Germany capturing players in neighboring countries made the country finally open its gates. From 1930 to 1978, the English Championship was closed to foreigners, except for those raised in the United Kingdom.

Even though foreigners appear more timidly, in the beginning, the scenario started to change when England gained more economic competitiveness and entered the route of stars and coaches from other countries.

The Dutch were accompanied by French and Italians at the forefront of this opening of the market and, with new ideas and new ways of playing, the English style of play has changed over time.

The passport issue

Something that also encouraged this internationalization was the European Union. That’s because players born – or naturalized – in one of those countries that were part of the group did not need a visa to stay in the country.

Without the difficulty of having to get a work visa (learn more about the sports visa here), hiring foreign athletes is much easier. And with that, the number of French, Italians, and players of other European nationalities within the English League increased.

How it affected the England National Team

With the internalization of the league, the English way of playing football also changed. And over time, the clubs’ base categories have also started to acquire this new way of playing and relying on players of other nationalities.

Also, the Elite Player Performance Plan was created. It involves players aged nine to 23 and makes clubs unable to sign players before the age of 17. This causes athletes to be scattered and not concentrated in one club.

In addition, the English Federation created the rule of using at least eight players trained in England in a squad of 25 players, regardless of whether the athlete is English or not.

With this differentiated base work, and also the increase of foreign players playing in England since the youth teams, English NT also ended up becoming a little more diversified. Currently, some players play in other leagues – besides the English one – with great chances of getting a place in the NT.

Some of them are:

Also, the Three Lions may be represented in 2022 by more players of immigrant descent, mainly from African countries, and raised in more industrial English areas, where street football prevails.

Conclusion

It is quite true that political issues can change this scenario, with Brexit calling into question some assumptions in effect in the league over the past almost 30 years.

As a result, the number of foreigners in the league may drop slightly, as players from other European countries can now count as foreigners. However, this is still not certain, only time will tell what will happen.

Even so, England proves that good work can be done at youth teams and professional levels and that modern football can be popular without leaving its roots out.

Betting on the Premier League

With so many interesting players – whether English or foreign – the Premier League is perhaps the most famous in the world, with millions of fans spread across the most diverse countries. From America to the tip of Asia, the English League is watched by many.

And with football being the most famous sport in the betting world, it is clear that the Premier League would not be forgotten. We can say that it is also one of the most popular leagues on betting sites, due to the number of fans.

And nowadays, betting on the Premier League is one of the easiest tasks out there. Not only because of the number of bookmakers that offer the competition but also because of the number of sites that offer betting tips and predictions for the matches of this wonderful competition.

One example is the MightyTips website. There you will find not only a large list of football bookmakers – with expert analysis to let you know which are the best – but also daily free bets no deposit from the Premier League and other European football competitions.

Former Nigeria international Daniel Amokachi says Leicester City Nigerian forward should be in the discussion for the next Africa player of the year award owing to his performances since the turn of the year.

Iheanacho has scored 9 goals in his last eight games in the English Premier League and also scored the winner that sent them to the finals of the English FA Cup for the first time in over 50 years.

Speaking on the chances of the 24 year old who has scored a total of 14 goals in all competitions this season, Amokachi said he is presently among the top three African players doing well in Europe in what has been a disappointing season for most.

“ A lot of African players didn’t live up to their potentials this season. So it won’t be out of place to suggest Iheanacho as one of the final three for the award of Africa player of the year alongside Riyad Mahrez and Mohammed Salah. It should be the three of them in my opinion”.

World football governing body FIFA has postponed the Africa qualifiers games for the 2022 World Cup which was originally slated to begin in June.

The games will now be played in the international windows of September, October, November and should extend to March 2021, owngoalnigeria.com understands.

In a communique made available to member nations by CAF, they explained that the decision was reached after consultation with FIFA taking into consideration the current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to ensure the optimal playing conditions for all participating teams.

CAF on it’s part said the full schedule for the games will be released shortly to member nations and they will on their part review their protocols regarding COVID. Particularly on the area of pre match testing which had been the source of some challenges in the last round of games.

Not many 14 year old have the chance of making the step up to the U18s but that is not the case for Ethan Nwaneri who is already making waves at a level higher than his peers.

Nwaneri opened his goal account for the U18 with a long range effort as they cruise to a 6-1 win over Reading in the U18 Premier League yesterday evening. A goal that has further outlined his potentials.

He let fly a left footed shot which nestled in the net few minutes following his introduction for his U18 debut and it has everyone connected to the club talking about the Nigerian.

A midfielder by trade, he has been with Arsenal since the age of 9 but not until the U14 level did his potential became clear for all to see. Amazingly he has often played above his age group.

For instance he has gotten games for the U15 and the U16 this season and many have tipped him as one of the stars expected to light up the U16 before making the step up possibly to the first team.

The one problem for Arsenal is that he won’t be eligible to sign scholarship terms until the summer of 2023 but between now and then he is expected to get lot of games for the U18s.