Nigeria international Samuel Chukwueze showed his class once again with another dazzling display for Villarreal which he capped with an assist as they run out 2-0 winners over Real Sociedad in a pre season game.

Chukwueze improved on his pre season number in terms of assists by providing the pass from which Fancis Coquelin opened scoring in the 8th minute, making him the player with the most assist in pre season games for Villarreal.

Coach of Villarreal Unai Emery couldn’t hide his excitement at the way Chukwueze performed in the game. He rose to his feet to applaud the 20 year old when he went pass three players in a flash.

So far Chukwueze has started their last two games, a sign of how well he has adjusted to the demands and system of the new coach.

Villarreal will opening their La Liga campaign against newly promoted Huesca who also have in their ranks Chukwueze’s Nigeria U17 teammate Kelechi Nwakali.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has plans of calling up two new goalkeepers to the team for their friendly games in October, owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Rohr wants to use the opportunity to access some young goalkeepers who have done well so and with doubts of the fitness of Francis Uzoho and Daniel Akpeyi he could fall as many as two new goalkeepers.

Top of his list is ex Nigeria U20 goalkeeper Matthew Yakubu who has impressed this season in Slovakia with four three straight clean sheets to his name for SKF Sered. The 19 year old impressed Rohr with the way he nailed down the number one Spot within a short period.

Tobias Okiki Lawal of Austrian side LASK is another who has impressed the coach a lot owing to his performances in the second division for the B team of LASK.

His performance led to a step up on the main team where he is now the second choice goalkeeper. At the age of 20 he has kept goal in over 44 league games although all came in the second division.

Adebayo Adeleye of Israeli second division side Hapoel Katamon use to be the sole candidate to gatecrash the Eagles goalkeeper hierarchy but reports has it that Rohr isn’t entirely convinced with the 20 year old. He is however willing to access him at close quarters if the opportunity arises .

Modest Belgium side Valmeira have turned down an offer of €1.5 million offered by Belgium side Anderlecht for the transfer of Tolu Arokodare.

The striker who has scored 15 goals in 15 league matches this season has emerged as a strong target for Anderlecht but Valmeira deemed the offer of €1.5 million as insufficient to secure the 19 year old former Nigeria U17 striker.

Valmeira want a fee of €2 million which will further smash the transfer record in Latvia making him the most expensive purchase ever in the history of Latvian football league .

They are insisting on €2 million as they claim to have suffered some financial loss due to the coronavirus crisis that swept through the world . A situation that has not gone down well with the forward.

Already the forward has missed their last two games hoping that the transfer will be concluded soon and according to the chairman of Valmeira he was omitted from their last league game against Daugavpils in order to reduce the risk of the striker getting injured with a transfer close to happening.

However, sources close to the player reveal that the chairman Uldis Pucitis want the player to remain at the club until at lest the January transfer window, something which the player and his agent are opposed to.

Daniel Martins 

Former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Kanu Nwankwo has been handed a role by Arsenal as they advanced in talks to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey

Arsenal are keen on adding the Ghanaian to their squad ahead of the start of season with several reports saying the Gunners are set to trigger his buy out clause of around €50 million.

Partey has according to reports agreed on a move to Arsenal after talks which had in attendance Kanu who spent five seasons at Arsenal winning two Premier League titles and two FA Cups during a period viewed by many as the most successful of the Arsene Wenger era.

44 year old Kanu took part in the talks and conceived Partey who views the Nigerian as his idol to accept a move to the Emirates, “ I’m a huge admirer of Mikel Obi. I like the way he keeps things very simple on the pitch and makes it seem so simple and easy to do but Nwankwo Kanu is my idol.

“He’s the best midfielder I’ve ever seen play football. He was a genius,” Partey said in 2018 prior to a friendly game between the B team of Nigeria and Atletico Madrid.

All that is left is for Arsenal to trigger the release clause of the 27 year old who has spent virtually all of his career in Europe so far representing the Spanish side .

Former Manchester City and QPR defender Nedum Onuoha says Crystal Palace new signing Ebere Eze will be better off in terms of his international career if he picks Nigeria ahead of England.

Eze trained with the Nigerian team in London but few months later after an explosive start to the season at English Championship side QPR he accepted to play for the U21 of England.

He was approached by Nigeria again to be a part of the senior national team but he turned it down insisting on concentrating with playing for the U21s of England.

Onuoha who now plays in the MLS for Real Salt Lake said at a point he was hoping to be in such position but it never came something which he said he would have loved to happen because he would have played for Nigeria at senior level.

Despite progressing through the youth ranks of the various levels of the English team, Onuoha never got the chance to play for England at senior level.

The 33 year old rounded up by telling Eze that he will love to see the 22 year old in the Nigerian colours but will still wish him well if in the future he decide to honor an invitation to play for England.

“ I hope your career will be better than mine and I hope you get to the position which I was hoping to be at one day where the full national team for Nigeria or the full national team of England would have called and then I would have had to make a proper decision. That was what I was hoping for .

“For me I don’t think it’s not really going to to be a tough one just because if everything was stable in terms of my club career and all that stuff.

“My mum is Nigerian, my Dad is Nigerian, my family is Nigerian and I was born in Nigeria. I’m lucky to have been born in Nigeria and I have that England heritage because I was raised here .

“For me it’s just something a little bit extra but it didn’t work out for me for several reason some where strictly political which I disagreed with but people criticize me till this day saying I was begging to play for England when I have not begged for anything in my life.

“ That’s one thing when if I eventually retired I would have missed. I would have had the feeling of maybe playing for Nigeria at a good point in my career but the good thing for you is that the time will come when you will have to make a decision of picking between two great nations.

“And there’s no wrong decision if you pick any but I would have love to see you in the green white green but if you are going to play for England if they do select you somewhere along the way in the future. I will wear your shirt I have no problem with that”.

Michael James

A well informed voice on Nigerian players who goes by the name @patomiliki on Twitter has reached out to owngoalnigeria.com on Samuel Kalu’s proposed loan move to Turkish side Fenerbahce.

Kalu as exclusively reported by this portal is close to sealing a loan move to Fenerbahce after agreeing terms on a season long loan deal but a fee is yet to be agreed with Bordeaux.

Bordeaux are keen on selling him owing to how bad he struggled last season but so far they have only received offers to have him on loan with the player also keen on the move .

Fenerbahce plan to his full wage during his loan spell hoping it will appeal to Bordeaux who will be able to use the money saved from his salary to invests in other areas of their team.

The deal which is expected to go through this week has suffered a set back according to @patomiliki who told Owngoalnigeria.com that Kalu isn’t joining Fenerbahce.

“ There’s a trend for Nigerian players making transfers in this window and for Kalu moving to Turkey is a backward step. Yesterday I spoke with someone and I can say without a shade of doubt that Kalu isn’t joining Fenerbahce “, he concluded.

As Super Eagles vice captain William Troost Ekong turns 27 today , owngoalnigeria.com takes a look at how his career took a turn for the good following advice ex Dutch superstar Rafael Van der Vaart.

Ekong spent the formative years of his career at English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur at about same time when Van der Vaart was viewed as the star of the team.

According to the Dutch football ace Ekong trained with the first team at Spurs as a youth player but at a point he told the then 18 years old to return to the Netherlands if he want to make headway in his career .

While working as a television analyst during the 2018 World Cup, Van der Vaart explained how he in a way shaped the defenders career “ Ekong trained with the first team when I was at Spurs. He told me he was from the Netherlands. I advised him to go back and it was good for his development. Now he is playing at the World Cup”, he said before Nigeria’s game against Iceland in the group stages of the tournament.

The Udinese defender took the advice and joined Groningen in the Netherlands but couldn’t nail a permanent spot in the first team forcing him to leave on two different loan spells to Dordrecht.

When his contract ran out at Groningen he was allow to leave on a free transfer to Gent of Belgium and just like it was in the Netherlands he was farmed out on loan to Norwegian side FK Haugesund.

He spent 18 months at the club and rose to the point of captain at some point before returning to Gent he still struggle to get himself established as a starter .

A move to Turkey was next on the card but after a year he made a shock move to Udinese of Italy where he has become a mainstay of the team.

Nigeria international defender Chidozie Awaziem is in advanced talks with Portuguese top division side Boavista ahead of a proposed loan move from FC Porto.

Awaziem spent last season on loan in Spain playing for Leganes who were relegated to the second division and it cost his a permanent deal at the club.

He resumed training with Porto yesterday but he has been told he is not part of their plans for next season and with a year left on his deal , the plan is to sell him permanently before the end of the transfer window .

However despite Porto lowering their €10 million demand , teams still didn’t look the way of the 23 year old Nigerian defender forcing the team to grant him permission to hold talks with Boavista.

The idea is for him to spend the last year of his deal at Porto on loan to Boavista but the terms of the deal is such that Porto are keen on inserting a clause that will see them profit from his move when his deal expires .

“ Awaziem will likely join Boavista. We are working on the deal and I can see it’s a loan deal that is around 75% done. Some clauses need to be agreed on before it’s done but for now they are the only team we are discussing with “, his representative told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Daniel Martins