Sadiq Umar extended his goal scoring act for Partizan Belgrade by scoring the opener in their 2-3 loss to Vojvodina. His fourth goal in five games since the resumption of the league in Serbia.

The Nigerian showed why he is so highly rated with a curler from the right when he found space in the box of Vojvodina to score the opening goal for his team .

Vojvodina rally back to claim a 3-2 win in what was a bad temper game as Partizan ended the game with ten men following the sending off of Seydouba Soumah. The coach of Partizan Savi Milosevic was also sent off for violently protesting a foul on Sadiq which should have seen the defender sent off.

After the game , Milosevic was full of praise for Sadiq and said they still hope to keep him until at least next season despite admitting that teams in more established leagues are after the 23 year old who scored 17 goals and also had 17 assists in all competitions last season.

Linked with a possible call up to the senior national team of Nigeria with coach of the team Gernot Rohr confirming that he is monitoring the striker in an interview with ESPN, Milosevic says he adds something different to any team.

“ He is different in the way he plays because you don’t know what to expect from him. In the box he is very calm and we plan to keep him until at least next summer unless we receive an offer which is okay for us from the teams looking for him”.

Ade Emmanuel 

Nigeria international Moses Simon showed his usefulness to Nantes by putting in a commendable shift to help them to a 2-1 win again Nimes despite finishing the game with nine men.

Simon started in an unfamiliar role in attack even although he played in same position last season. He started the move that led to the first goal scored by Andrei Girotto in the 11th minute.

Imran Louza put them two goals up as they went into the half time break comfortably leading and pushing for their first win of the season after last weekend draw against Bordeaux.

Five minutes after the break, Louza who scored the second goal for Nantes via the spot was shown a straight red card and six minutes later Nimes pull a goal back through Zinedine Ferhat.

The red card saw Simon drop into a defensive role where he was up and doing mopping up incursions into their half to protect their slim advantage.

Nantes were further reduced when Fabio was shown a red after picking up two bookings and that set up a nervous end to the game but Nantes hang on to pick all three points.

Ade Emmanuel 

Fringe Super Eagles forward Josh Maja capped his new found form with a goal for Bordeaux to power them to a 2-0 win over Angers .

The 21 year old started Bordeaux’s first league game last week against Nantes and his performance earned him another chance to lead the line and he didn’t disappoint.

Maja who scored six league goals last season opened his new season goal account with a striker’s finish in the box by reacting first to a knockdown to open scoring in the game.

Croatian midfielder Toma Basic put the game to bed with the second goal for Bordeaux in the 27th minutes , two minutes after the opening goal by Maja and it was enough to help them to their first league win of the season.

Coach of the senior national of Nigeria Gernot Rohr was among the handful of supporters who saw the game live and for the second straight week he has watched Maja at close range.

While Maja was subbed out in the 66th minute his fellow Nigerian at the club Samuel Kalu was once again introduced from the bench with twelve minutes left to play in the game.

Ade Emmanuel

As many as tree Nigerians were on the pitch when Genk took on Club Brugge in a top division game which ended in a 2-1 for the visitors to the home ground of Genk called Luminus Arena.

Cyriel Dessers started as top striker for Genk while Brugge had the Nigerian duo of Dennis Emmanuel and David Okereke as part of their three man attack.

Dennis headline the match up when he set up Hans Vanaken for the opening goal of the game in the 22 minutes. A lead his team protected till the half time break.

Two minutes after the break , Dessers was handed a perfect opportunity to draw his team level via the spot but the former Eredivisie top scorer struck his effort against the bar. He was almost made to pay for the miss as Dennis almost made it 2-0 afterwards but surprisingly missed a sitter from close range.

Genk won another penalty but this time around Dessers wasn’t the taker and the result was different as Theo Bongoda made no mistake to bring scores to 1-1.

Brugge other Nigerian Okereke was by far one of the busiest for his team as he combined his wing role in attack with defending when the need arises. Dennis was substituted after 75 minutes .

Seven minutes from full time Youssouph Badji put the game to bed with what ended as the winner to hand the champions a win on the road.

Meanwhile Paul Onuachu the other Nigerian in the Matchday squad of Genk was an unused substitute with Steven Odey who is close to securing a loan move not listed at all.

Ade Emmanuel 

A lot has been said on the transfer of Chidera Ejuke from Heerenveen to Russian side CSKA Moscow as many expected him to move to a league higher in terms of rating than that of the Russia.

Owngoalnigeria.com senior editor Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman takes a look at five reasons why the talented 22 year old who was linked with a move to Ligue 1 side Marseille and also Serie A side ended up in Russia .

1. Covid 19 Pandemic – The pandemic affected the finances of many teams and that in effect affected the spending powers of some teams linked with the dashing wing forward.

On the other hand , Heerenveen refused to bulk on their asking price as they also need to raise cash from his sale to balance their books. Their asking fee of €12 million was only met by the Russian side with 20% of that fee going to Norwegian side Valerenga as part of the further sale agreement in the deal that brought him to the Dutch side .

2. Chance To Play In Europa League – The fact that the Russian side is a regular in European cup competitions put them on a higher pedestal than Heerenveen. A strong showing in the competition will no doubt catch the attention of the top teams faster than the interest he got for his exploits in the Dutch Eredivisie.

3. CSKA Will Pay Him Six Times More Than What He Earned At Heerenveen – In fairness to some footballers who will turn down big money move in order to stay in leagues viewed by many as competitive. Money is still by far the primary essence of the game.

Ejuke’s move to the Russian side will see him earn six times more than what he was earning in the Netherlands with Heerenveen.

4. CSKA New Exciting Project – The Russian side have been busy in the transfer window making big money signing as part of the start of a new project they aim will help them compete favorably with teams from other leagues . The signing of Ejuke is seen as a statement of how they intend to take the rest of Europe by storm.

5. Russian League Rated Above Dutch League – Per UEFA coefficient, the Dutch league is three places below the Russian league which is rated 7th by the European football governing body. Base on the above rating it’s safe to say it’s a step up for the former Gombe United teen sensation

17 year old Sparta Rotterdam sensation Emanuel Emegha has been one of the breakaway stories of the pre season training of Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam ahead of the start of this season.

Coming of season where he scored 14 goals in 17 games for the youth team he has taken to life in the first team a lot quicker than many expected and he even started their last pre season game two days back.

The game against Waalwijk which ended in a 1-1 draw is their last test game before the start of the Dutch Eredivisie next week Friday and Emegha did his chances of getting a look in a whole lot of good .

Capped by the Netherlands once at U15 level, he has hinted at his senior international future which could become an issue in the future if he establishes himself in the first team next season.

Speaking to Oma Akatugba, Emegha picked Napoli record signing Victor Osimhen as the one player he sees as his role model not even when more established names like Robin Van Persie was suggested to him .

“ None of them is my role model. I see Osimhen as the player I want to play like. He is my role model and I hope to emulate his career to be the best I can be”, he said.

Ade Emmanuel 

20 year old Marvin Olawale Akinlabi Park has been promoted to the first team of Real Madrid alongside nine other players following their exploits in the UEFA Youth League where they emerged as champions.

He will with the rest of the players undergo a mandatory medical test ahead of joining the first team in training tomorrow when they have their next session.

A midfielder cum winger who was ever present for the team in their run to the UEFA Youth League title he is among the four midfielders from the U19 team picked for the first team with the trio of Antonio Blanco, Ivan Morante and Sergio Arribas completing the list.

They were picked from the team coached by Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez with Marvin playing in all seven games with a goal to his name as they romp to the title.

Eligible for Nigeria, Spain and South Korea , he has already represented Spain at U19 level but only recently voiced out that he is open to a switch to Nigeria as it is the wish of his father.

With only one junior cap to his name for Spain, his elevation to the main team of Real Madrid could spark a tug of war with Nigeria keen on having more players born abroad pledge their loyalty to the senior national team.

Osas Mahawi

“Looking back I know if I had the opportunity again I will definitely choose Nigeria even if I had to pay I wouldn’t care because I would have just pay but then been a young player you always think of the money first.

“Now I will tell the young lad right now don’t make the same mistake I made things have changed. Even if they are asking for money from the coach and that’s only a rumour I’m not saying it is true you have to stand strong and you’re black you play for Nigeria.

“England will let you play three four five matches like I did which is great and they will never use you again whereas Nigeria will continue to use you all the way through.”

Ebere Eze completed a remarkable career rise when he joined English Premier League side Crystal Palace from Championship side QPR.

The 22 year old secured the move after a very good season with QPR which saw him earned a first call up to the U21 of England three years after training with the senior national team of Nigeria in London.

Eze spent two days in the camp of the Super Eagles when they camped in London in preparation for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. He impressed the coach of the team particularly coach Gernot Rohr.

At that time he wasn’t fully established at QPR and the coach thought it wise to allow him focus on his club career before handing him another chance to push for a spot in the senior national team of Nigeria.

Last season he finally delivered on the promises he showed in training with the Super Eagles with a string of impressive performances for QPR. As expected Rohr reached out to him ahead of the naming of his list for a 2022 World Cup qualifier game.

Eze asked for more time as he was on the radar of the English U21 team but Rohr made him to understand that if he plays for England and become cap tied it will require a long process that usually takes around 18 months before he can be eligible to represent Nigeria .

A meeting was arranged with his parents but it came a day after he was named in the U21 team of England and he decided to pick the cancer rather than team up with Nigeria.

Although he didn’t rule out switching allegiance to Nigeria in the future and he even met with the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) he also didn’t accept the offer of starting the switch of allegiance process.

It probably means he won’t be available for Nigeria for the qualifiers and even the World Cup even if they qualify because it takes a period of around one to two years to have a switch of allegiance approved by FIFA due to the complex nature of the English FA system.

Michael James 

Nigeria international Samuel Chukwueze opened his pre season goal account with a well taken goal in his team 1-2 loss to Valencia in a high profile pre season game.

Chukwueze opened scoring in the 8th minute of the game for his first goal in three pre season games. Maxi Gomez drew Valencia level six minutes after the hour mark.

Fifteen minutes to the end of the game , Maxi Gomes profited from an error by Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo for his and his team second goal of the game.

The goal ended as the decider in the keenly contested pre season game where Chukwueze played his first ninety minutes since the start of their preparations for next season.

Last season Chukwueze scored just three goals in 37 league games , two short of his first season with the first team when he scored five goals in 26 games. Despite his obvious talent the one area of his game that needs improvement is his finishing in front of goal.

Ade Emmanuel