Red hot Crotone forward Simy Nwankwo is making a case for another chance with the senior national team of Nigeria after scoring his 19th league goal of the season for Crotone.

Simy struck a brace in the 42nd and 69th minute in what ended in a 4-3 win for his team against Parma.  A result which compounded Parma chances of beating the drop same as Crotone who are still bottom of the log despite the three points.

What has been a bad season for Crotone upon their return to the Italian top flight has gone well for Simy on a personal level with the 28 year old now among the top scorers in Europe.

His form will no doubt increase calls for him to be given another look in by coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr who hasn’t called him since 2018.

At the moment his path to the team is littered with options owing to the fine form of the quartet of Terem Moffi, Sadiq Umar, Paul Onuachu and first choice striker Victor Osimhen.

Following rumours about interest from Chelsea in signing Leicester City man of the moment Kelechi Iheanacho, a price tag has been suggested as the amount it will take to price him away from the Foxes.

Iheanacho has been in spectacular form since the turn of the year with 11 goals in his last 8 games and it has led to reports in the English media about an interest from Chelsea who are having goal scoring issues.

None of the forwards on the book of Chelsea has scored up to ten goals in the English Premier League this season leading coach Thomas Tuchel to prioritize signing of a forward at the end of the season.

Reports says Iheanacho is one is the players he is looking at and according to a representative of his agency, Leicester City will be tempted to sell if they make a bid in the region of £50 million.

“ Every player has a price tag and it’s same for Iheanacho. There is a buy back option of £50 million in the deal that brought him to Leicester City from Manchester City. So if a bid in that region is tabled he will most likely leave. It’s that straight forward”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has been urged to go ahead with his proposed plan to buy English Premier League side Arsenal by fans of the club during yesterday’s protest at the Emirates.

Fans of the club protested the owner’s decision to be a part of the botched European Super League with a call for a change in the ownership of the team before their team 0-1 loss to Everton yesterday.

During the process which was held outside the stadium, a board held by an individual read “Kroenke Out, Dangote In” in reference to Stan Kroenke who is the majority shareholder of the club and Dangote who has thrice voiced his desire to buy the team.

And in January 2020 , he stated once more that when his current business interests are concluded, he will move on to the Gunners.

“It is a team that yes I would like to buy some day, but what I keep saying is we have $20billion worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on. I’m trying to finish building the company and then after we finish, maybe some time in 2021 we can.

“I’m not buying Arsenal right now, I’m buying Arsenal when I finish all these projects, because I’m trying to take the company to the next level.”

According to KPMG in 2020 – who measure clubs’ enterprise value, which is a measure of a company’s total value – a popular metric used to value a company for a potential takeover – stands at £2.073billion.

And with Dankote reportedly worth a cool $11.5billion, that would give him ample money to spend on buying Kroenke out.

Nigeria Professional Football League side Wikki Tourist has announced the signing of Egyptian left full back Mahmoud Jamaal, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Jamaal was this afternoon unveiled by the management of the team in a quiet ceremony as they continue to beef up their team ahead of the start of the second round of games in the NPFL.

Details of the team from which he joined the Bauchi based side is sketchy as at the time of tiling in this report but some sources said he was once on the books of Africa super giants Al Ahly.

Wikki Tourist ended the first stanza of the league in 13th spot and will he hoping to end the season on a high with coach Usman Abdullah already feeling the heat of what many term a not too good season so far.

We gathered Jamaal is the first of many signings the team is hoping to make before the league returns from the mid season break.

Spanish journalist Raphael Sanz says Kelechi Nwakali is finally delivering on the promises that made him the Most Valuable Player at the 2015 U17 World Cup.

Nwakali has had a turbulent club career and after four mixed time out on loan from Arsenal, the team decided to let him leave for free for Spanish side Huesca last year.

Huesca secured promotion to the top flight in Spain and Nwakali was tipped to have his breakthrough in a top league but that didn’t happen leading him to be loaned out to second division side Alcorcon.

At Alcorcon he has found his range with back to back goals in two consecutive league games helping them up the table as they continue to push for an escape from the drop to the third division.

Sanz who broke the news of Nwakali’s move via Owngoalnigeria.com was full of nothing but praises for the 22 year old terming him as the star of the team.

“ He is the star of the team. They rely on him for almost everything and it’s like that responsibility is helping him grow. He takes set pieces including penalties for them. For now he is their most important player. He is showing his class on a consistent basis now”, he said.

Leicester City celebrated forward Jamie Vardy says he isn’t in anyway surprised by the form of Nigeria international forward Kelechi Iheanacho.

Iheanacho yesterday took his goal count in the English Premier League this season to nine goals after scoring his 11th goal In his last eight games in all competitions with a goal in their 3-0 win over West Brom yesterday.

Vardy who also ended a barren run of 11 games without a goal by scoring the opener said the recent goal scoring run of Iheanacho isn’t a thing of surprise because he has been doing it in training.

“Nothing has changed with Kelechi Iheanacho, it’s just clicked for him. That’s what we see in training every day. He should have scored more today but so should I!,” Vardy said.

Coach of the team Brendan Rodgers praised the forward for his run in front of goal but despite saying he looks likely to score in every game , he still demanded he continue to improve some aspect of his game.

“There is no doubt Kelechi is scoring and looks like he can score every game,” elated Rodgers told BBC Sports.

“There are areas of the game he can improve, like not losing the ball, but we are so pleased for him because he is working really hard.”

Napoli and Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen has picked the trio of Paul Onuachu, Sadiq Umar and Kelechi Iheanacho as his main rivals for the Super Eagles top striker position.

Sadiq has scored 16 goals this season for promotion chasing Almeria while Iheanacho has scored 11 goals in his last 8 games. Onuachu ended the regular season in Belgium with 29 goals as he gears up for the playoffs.

In an interview with celebrated Nigeria journalist Colin Udoh on ESPN said the trio have really done well in Europe and he hope they transfer same form to the national team.

“I think they are all doing quite well — Paul Onuachu, Kelechi Iheanacho and Sadiq Umar,” he told ESPN. “Of course I am happy for them and I’m happy about their form.

“And of course, being able to capitalize on their current form for the national team is really important. Kelechi has been doing quite well and he has been scoring goals. Onuachu also, I think he’s the leading goalscorer in Europe which is very important.

“He gave us the winning goal in the game against Benin Republic. It shows that we can capitalize on their form and count on them.”

One name that he failed to mention is 28 years old Crotone forward Simy Nwankwo who has scored 17 goals in the Serie A this season, same league as Osimhen but at a club that is at the basement of the league table yet has more goals.

On his part he admit he must continue to work hard in order to keep his spot as first choice striker of the senior national team of Nigeria because the others are waiting to take his spot if he fails to use it.

“Of course, for me I just need to keep on working hard, keep on doing well for my club and for the Super Eagles also in order to remain the number one and if I’m called upon I think I will give my all and I think this is really important,” he said.

‘It’s not for me, it’s not for my individual glory, it’s for the team, which is really good and I think the rest of the strikers are also ready to take the spot so I have to keep working hard.”

Manchester City teen prospect Tai Sodje who snubbed a call up to the England U19 team has revealed why he took the decision.

The forward who has scored an astonishing 25 goals in 18 games to the U18 team of Manchester City was called up to the English team but turned it down as his dream is to follow in the foot steps of his uncles Efe and Sam Sodje who all represented Nigeria.

The report which was an owngoalnigeria.com exclusive has now been confirmed by his family member who is also a board member of the Delta State Football Association.

His uncle Sam who is presently in Nigeria told Owngoalnigeria.com in a brief interview that his nephew made the decision all on his own without their influence as he feels more Nigerian than English.

“ Few days ago I granted an interview where I explained that Tai did turn down an invitation by the English U19. It was a decision he took all on his own because he feels more Nigerian than English. He has what it takes to play for the Super Eagles in the future”, he said.

Crystal Palace midfielder Ebere Eze has refuse to rule out a switch to Nigeria in the nearest future despite initially turning down them down for England.

Eze trained with the Super Eagles in 2017 during a training camp in London but two years later when he was officially called up to the senior team he declined and instead picked England.

He was part of the English U21 team that failed to make it past the group stages at the recently concluded European Championship. He is however open to the idea of playing for Nigeria in the future.

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has twice met with the dribbling ace and now Eze says his relationship with Pinnick is still intact.

“ A lot happened when I made the decision to play for England and my discussion with the president of the Nigeria FA went well. It’s something you never close the door on. I have a very good relationship with Mr Pinnick”, he said when quizzed on if he could yet switch back to Nigeria.

Well known football transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio has taken a swipe at Serie A side Napoli on the amount spent on signing Victor Osimhen from Lille last summer.

Napoli paid in excess of €90 million for the 22 year old last summer, a club record fee which they haven’t quite benefited from yet with Osimhen having a difficult time settling down at the team.

So far he has scored just five goals from 17 games in the Serie A largely due to the fact that he spent time out with a shoulder injury and later had to receive treatment for the Covid 19 virus.

Despite recognizing the potential of Osimhen, Di Marzio however made it clear that he isn’t worth all the money paid for him but he could come good in the future.

Di Marzio on Osimhen – He must mature, it must not be evaluated for what it has been paid for. He is a boy with a physique who has to learn movements that no one has ever taught him. He is not a player to buy at that high amount, he can be worth around 10/15 million. In a high-level team he can be a good alternative to the starting forward “.