Brentford defender Michael Kayode who turned down an approach to play for the senior national team of Nigeria in favour of Italy has not been given the recognition he expected.

Kayode who was born in Italy to an immigrant Nigerian father had a breakthrough season in the English Premier League, where he can arguably be in the list of the best right backs in the league.

Despite that he is yet to find favour with the selectors of the senior national team of Italy. It was said that new coach Silvio Baldini who replaced Gennaro Gattuso will likely hand a spot to the defender.

Baldini knew Kayode very well from their team in the U21 of Italy before his recent elevation as interim coach of the main team. Despite that he hasn’t looked the way of the former Fiorentina defender.

What’s even more bewildering is the fact that the coach has made three adjustments to his team before and their recent friendly games against Luxembourg and Greece respectively.

Baldini was forced into calling replacements , including in the full back positions but didn’t look the way of the 21 year old. A sign of how lowly rated he is in the set up.

It makes his decision not to consider a chance with Nigeria at international level weird. He clearly doesn’t stand a chance at the moment unlike with Nigeria where he will walk into the team.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has lamented the lack of young Nigerian strikers in Europe as he begin his search for an alternative to top striker Victor Osimhen, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle has been very active in the addition of young players to the team since his appointment as coach one year ago, but it has been mostly in other areas and not in the top striker’s position.

Although he has the trio of Akor Adams, Terem Moffi and Paul Onuachu as options when Osimhen is unavailable but they are all at the same age with Osimhen, and Onuachu is even older.

It’s a situation that is troubling to the coach and it’s largely why he is still interested in luring 19 year old Saudi Arabia based George Ilenikhena to Nigeria, despite his desire to play for France.

He is also keen on 18 year old Angers forward Prosper Peter who is also eligible for France, and turned down the option of switching to Nigeria when he was approached at the end of last season.

The idea for Chelle is to hope that a young Nigerian breakout in Europe before one of his above mentioned options begin to decline.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Newly invited defender Christian Akpan has become one of the most talked about players in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of Wednesday’s friendly game against Portugal, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Akpan was handed a late invitation to be a part of the team by head coach Eric Chelle, a day after making his senior debut for the first team of Belgium side Genk.

The 21 year old was voted as the man of the match, and he carried that form to the national team camp of Nigeria, where he has caught the eyes of all that have trained or witness the session.

One of the players said he is so two footed that you can’t guess where he wants to go or what he wants to do. He has now put himself in a position to play some part in the game against Portugal.

Another player who has looked really exciting lately is FC Basel winger Philip Otele, who spent last season on loan to Hamburg. Fresh from a very enterprising performance against Poland he hasn’t dropped his level since that game.

Otele is slowly making his way into the plans of Chelle who likes his directness, pace, build up and passing ability particularly in tight spaces.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion won the race for signing of highly rated Nigerian teen sensation Zadok Yohanna from Swedish side AIK.

Yohanna emerged as one of the most wanted teen in Europe at the moment after a whirlwind start to his career with Swedish side AIK. A host of teams came for his signing but Brighton beat all comers to agree a fee worth £21m.

His rise is coming less than a year after leaving Nigerian Academy Ikon Allah FC based in the northern city of Nigeria called Kaduna.

What many didn’t know is that he was dropped from the U17 team of Nigeria and later the U20 team, the same year that scouts in Sweden came for him.

” Yohanna was dropped from the U17 team and one year later the U20 team. That same year after he was dropped by coach Aliyu Zubairu he was picked by scouts from AIK. It was a huge battle for his signature but they won because they had a better plan for him”, a member of Ikon Allah FC told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive chat.

Explaining the decision to drop the 18 year old from the Nigerian U17 team two years ago, one of the coaches said he was very young at that time and not physically ready like the other players picked ahead of him.

” Yes they ( Zadok Yohanna and Mubarak Suleiman of Salvia Prague) were a part of our U17 team three years ago, but they didn’t make the team due to two factors that is common with players at that level’, a backroom staff of the team revealed in an exclusive chat.

” First and foremost they were really young around that time. They were like babies but the talent was there for all to see just that physically they weren’t there. Then we had other players who were ahead of them in their positions”, he stated.

Slavia Prague and Nigeria international defender Igho Ogbu has been ruled out of the friendly against Portugal after sustaining an injury in training this evening, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Ogbu has been heavily involved with the Nigerian team in their summer friendly games starting from the Unity Cup tournament in England.

He starred in both games against Zimbabwe and Jamaica respectively, and was also involved in the first half of the 2-2 draw against Poland.

Team medics describe the situation as a suspected rupture of his left achilles tendon, and it will effectively rule him out of the game against Portugal on the 10th of June.

Head coach Eric Chelle won’t be calling up a replacement, and will instead rely on the trio of Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey and Emmanuel Fernandez.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion held off a late challenge from rivals Newcastle United and Chelsea to complete the signing of Zadok Yohanna from Swedish side AIK , OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The player arrived in London earlier today and will undergo a routine medical, with announcement said to be imminent later today.

He will sign a five year deal with the Seagulls, who will pay a transfer fee in the region of €30m including add ons.

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Galatasaray and Nigeria international striker Victor Osimhen has reportedly been offered to Barcelona by “intermediaries” but the striker is not said to be in the club’s plans for the future.

Barcelona are eager to bring in a new No. 9 this summer to replace Robert Lewandowski and have made Atlético Madrid Julian Alvarez their top transfer target.

A new report from Diario Sport claims that Barcelona have been offered the chance to sign Osimhen “through third parties” in the last few hours, but the club do not see him as a priority this summer.

Barca remain focused on Alvarez and remain confident he can be lured away from Atletico this summer, despite the early frustration from Los Colchoneros.

As for Osimhen, there’s regularly transfer speculation about the striker, with Galatasaray set to demand around €150m for his signing.

Daniel Martins

Swedish side AIK have informed the camp of Nigerian winger Zadok Yohanna that he should pick one of either Newcastle United or Chelsea as his next destination, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

We exclusively gathered that both teams are willing to pay €30m plus five in additional payments for the 18 year old, much more than what Brighton who had earlier reached an agreement on personal terms for his signing.

Brighton’s offer of €15m plus five million in future payments was knocked off by the bid from Newcastle United, which has now been matched by Chelsea.

The ball is now in the box of the player’s camp to make a decision on where is best for him, and we were made to understand that personal terms are yet to be discussed with either clubs.

However Chelsea are expected to offer more in that regard, but sources close to the Ikon Allah academy graduate said money won’t be a factor when making his decision.

Career progression will come first and for now a move to Newcastle United seems the best option on paper, but they will still listen to Chelsea’s options regarding his career progression.

Daniel Martins

A total of 22 players are presently in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the high profile friendly game against Portugal on the 10th of June, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Fresh from the 2-2 draw against Poland yesterday, the team arrived Leira yesterday in batches, and two new players in Alex Iwobi and newly invited Christian Akpan joined the camp, while Rafiu Durosinmi was excused due to personal reasons.

Earlier the today, the number in camp swelled to 22 with the arrival of Samuel Chukwueze who missed the game against Poland due to his mother’s burial rites, which happened four days ago.

He is now expected to be involved in their first training session later today, with head coach Eric Chelle expected to run the rule ahead of the game, which he said is much more than a friendly game.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has fired back at critics of Maduka Okoye in the 2-2 draw against Poland, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria twice led in the game but conceded late in both halves to draw 2-2, and Okoye was fingered for the manner which he was beaten for the second goal which was a long range effort from almost the centre circle.

Okoye dived toward the direction of the ball but was beaten by the pace and power of the strike, but some others felt he should have done better considering the distance the ball travelled before getting to him.

Chelle as expected has leaped to the defence of the Udinese goalkeeper wondering if the critics actually watched the game or just that moment of brilliance.

” People who blame Okoye for the goal didn’t watch the game. You can see that he kept us in the game and the goal can beat any goalkeeper in the world. We need to be fair about these things. I am happy with his performance and that’s all that matters”, the coach said.

The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Eric Chelle to call up the duo of Christian Akpan and Abdullahi Bewene to the team in preparation for the games against Poland and Portugal respectively raised eyebrows.

Bewene who plays for Czech Republic side Banik Ostrava already made his debut against Poland and posted a very impressive performance, which proved correct the decision of Chelle to hand him a late invitation.

Genk defender Christian Akpan arrived the camp of the team yesterday, and will now go into the plans for the game against Portugal on the 10th of June.

Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the duo benefited from the withdrawal of some invited players particularly at right back ,where Bright Osayi-Samuel the sole option in the list withdrew, and also the fact that they won’t need to apply for a visa before travelling to either of the countries.

Chelle has a six man shortlist to pick from but settled for the duo, who are both 21 year old primarily because they have been active in the build up to the games, hence will be ready to play.

Akpan is coming of the back of his first game for the senior team of Genk last weekend, where he was voted as the man of the match. It’s the same for Bewene who was also active just a week ago.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

A record ten African teams will be at the world up in Mexico, Canada and the United States of America when they tournament begins later this month, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Flying the African flag will be Algeria, Cape Verde, Congo DR, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

Nigeria one of the power houses of African football won’t be at the tournament for the second consecutive edition, after failing to beat Congo DR in the playoff.

Looking ahead to the tournament, FC Porto star Zaidu Sanusi says it’s not normal for ten teams from Africa to be at the world cup without Nigeria included.

” I must say it’s not normal to have ten teams in Africa without Nigeria. It has happened and we have to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. We need to take our spot as the giants of Africa and make it count next time”, he said in an exclusive interview with OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Zaidu is looking forward to the friendly game against Portugal, after playing the entire second half of the 2-2 draw against Poland two days ago.

” I will be at home in a way and hopefully we get the result that will be good for our morale going forward”.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman