Eagles Watch

Former U-20 forward, Oseni, scores in Vietnam

 

…Norwich eyes Collins’ signing

With the continent’s football afficionados waiting anxiously for the African Nations Cup kick-off, there were only few Nigerian players on parade for their clubsides in less fancied leagues abroad.
In the Vietnamese League which was formerly a Mecca of sort for our players, ex-schoolboy international, Ganiyu Oseni was on song for Ha Noi.
The most cheering news at the weekend is that from Premier League newcomers, Norwich City. According to reports, the club is allegedly keen on signing the Padderborn left-back in the summer.
In yet another report, the News Editor, ADEBAYO OLODAN scouts abroad for the performances of Super Eagles players and hopefuls plus transfer speculations.

ENGLAND
Ndidi: I’m flattered by Man Utd link but…
Leicester City star, Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi has admitted he is “flattered” to be linked with a big money move away from the King Power Stadium, but insists his focus is currently on Nigeria’s bid to win the Africa Cup of Nations.
The midfielder was an ever-present for the Foxes in the Premier League last season, and enjoyed an eye-catching campaign – particularly once Brendan Rogers had taken the managerial reigns in February this year.
Perhaps not surprisingly, his form has attracted the attention of some of England’s biggest clubs, with Manchester United, Arsenal and Champions League winners Liverpool all credited with an interest in the 22-year-old.
But, while Ndidi has acknowledged such reports are complimentary, his feet remain firmly on the ground as he looks to make his mark in Egypt over the next five weeks, and in the blue of Leicester beyond that.
“I am flattered when hearing such a thing,” Ndidi, who arrived in the Premier League from Belgian club Genk in a £14m deal in early 2017, told Goal.
“It is very good to hear about that interest from big clubs, but there is nothing on the ground so I won’t care about it.
“I am focusing on AFCON with Nigeria now, and then pre-season with Leicester City. We have a great manager with ambition to compete with big clubs in the Premier League.”
Nigeria open their AFCON campaign against Burundi in Alexandria on Saturday, and are overwhelming favourites to qualify for the last 16 from a group that also contains Guinea and Madagascar.
Norwich eyes Collins’ signing
Norwich City is keen on a deal to sign Paderborn left-back, Jamilu Collins this summer, according to reports.
The 24-year-old is currently with the Super Eagles for their Africa Cup of Nations campaign which gets underway at the end of the month.
However, Norwich is keen to do a deal before the tournament starts to avoid any further interest in the player.
He played 34 times for his club last season and helped them achieve a remarkable double promotion to the Bundesliga, having signed for the club when they were in the third tier back in the summer of 2017.
Ahead of their return to the Premier League, Norwich is keen to strengthen the left-back area and boss Daniel Farke is once more looking to his native Germany for new players. Jamal Lewis played the vast majority of games last season for the Canaries, while Philip Heise, a January addition from Dynamo Dresden, failed to play a single minute of football after joining.
Aina thanks Chelsea fans for farewell messages 
Ola Aina has thanked Chelsea fans for their support following his permanent transfer to Italian club Torino.
Aina will join Torino this summer after the Serie A outfit exercised an option to make the deal permanent following a successful season on loan with the side in 2018/19.
“Thank you to all the Chelsea fans sending the lovely messages I am seeing and reading all of them,” Ola tweeted on his Twitter platform.
The 22-year-old defender made 30 league appearances as Torino finished seventh, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Udinese in February.
An FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League winner during his time at the Chelsea academy, Aina made just three Premier League appearances for the London side, all of which came in his second season as a senior professional as Antonio Conte guided them to the Premier League title.
The versatile defender is in Nigeria’s squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Man City may beat Chelsea to signature of Edozie
Premier League champions, Manchester City is in a pole position to sign wonder-kid, Samuel Edozie, in this transfer window.
Chelsea is also battling to sign the youngster from Millwall but City appears favourites to land his services.
Millwall opted to sell Edozie, who is one of their most promising talents, after Manchester City agreed to a fee in the region of one million pounds with The Lions.
Edozie was initially valued at £600,000-£800,000 before the transfer fee changed to £1m.
The change occurred due to interests from other high-profile clubs.
Edozie, 16, is represented by one of the most influential agencies in the world, Unique Sports Management. The agency also handles the affairs of England captain Harry Kane, Wilfred Zaha and Moses Odubajo.
If the deal goes through, Edozie will play for City’s U18 team next season because of his age.
Sunderland, Portsmouth, Brentford locked in battle for Ladapo
One of the highest scoring Nigerian players in England last season, Freddie Ladapo is attracting interest from Football League clubs.
Portsmouth and Sunderland are close to agreeing a fee in the region of £500,000 with Plymouth Argyle for the striker.
With Plymouth Argyle relegated from the League One at the end of last season, Ladapo is being linked with a departure from the club and he’s not lacking suitors after scoring 18 league goals in 45 matches.
Championship side Brentford have a long-standing interest in Ladapo and are also in the race for his services.
Portsmouth and Sunderland attempted to sign the player in the January transfer window but The Pilgrims turned down both approaches.
The former Colchester United and Crystal Palace man joined Plymouth in the summer of 2018 following his release by Southend.
Ladapo was invited to train with the Flying Eagles ahead of the 2011 FIFA U20 World Cup.
VIETNAM
Emmanuel Tony Agbaji (Nam Dinh): The 26-year-old lasted the duration of his club’s 2-1 win over SHB Da Nang.
Monday Samuel (Thanh Hoa): He fired blank for 90 mins as his team played a goalless draw with Ho Chi Minh City.
Former U-20 forward, Oseni, scores in Vietnam 
Former Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles striker, Ganiyu Oseni was in cloud nine after scoring yet another goal for his Vietnamese club, Ha Noi at the weekend. Oseni who has played in the Turkish League was cautioned in the 59th min of his team’s 2-0 defeat of Sài Gòn and scored in regulation time of the match.
His Vietnamese club, Ha Noi is presently second on the log with 25points in 13 matches.
KAZAKHSTAN
Aderinsola Eseola (Kairat Almaty): The youngster gave his team a 2-0 lead against Okzhetpes Kokshetau in the 75th min as the match ended 2-1 in favour of the visitors.
TURKEY
Besiktas keen on ex-U-23 skipper, Okechukwu
Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas has made an offer of 1.25 million euros to sign former U-23 skipper, Azubuike Okechukwu, according to reports.
Turkish newspaper, Ajansspor claims the central midfielder has agreed personal terms with the Istanbul club and it has been suggested by former Besiktas winger Okan Koc that the deal is good as done.
The transfer fee would be paid in four instalments: €100,000, €150,000 and then €500,000 each.
Okechukwu left Pyramids of Egypt for Caykur Rizespor in the January transfer window and played a key role as the club avoided relegation, making 14 appearances and scoring one goal.
He was linked with a move to Besiktas and Galatasaray before his switch to Pyramids in 2018.
The 22-year-old started his career in his homeland with Niger Tornadoes before shifting to Bayelsa United, from where he was snapped up by Yeni Malatyaspor in 2015.
ISRAEL
Flying Eagles captain, Udoh nominated for Golden Boy Award
Flying Eagles captain Ikouwem Udo Utin has been nominated for the 2019 Golden Boy, an award handed out to the best U21 player in European football.
Borussia Monchengladbach starlet, Keanan Bennetts is the other Nigeria-eligible player included on the long list of 100 nominees for the 2019 title.
Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze, who turned 20 last months, Manchester City’s Tom Dele-Bashiru, Chelsea teen sensation Faustino Anjorin and Arsenal midfielder Miguel Azeez are not among the talented players chosen by Italian newspaper Tuttosport.
Utin was one of the most promising youngsters in Nigeria before agreeing a deal with Maccabi Haifa just before the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup and was included in the Team of the Tournament for the U20 AFCON.
The former Enyimba left-back made his debut for the Super Eagles A team in a friendly against Egypt in March and was named on the standby list for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Bennetts was approached by the Nigerian Federation to represent the country at the U-20 World Cup but did not attend the training camp because he had just returned from injury and wanted to concentrate on his career with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Capable of playing as a left winger, left midfielder, playmaker, central midfielder and left back, he turned out for Tottenham Hotspur’s youth teams before joining Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer of 2018.
EAGLES’ CAMP
Ighalo not worried about Eagles’ goal scoring issues
Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo has brushed aside concerns over the Super Eagles’ recent lack of goals as they head into the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The West African giants have managed just one goal in their last two friendlies: a 1-0 win over Egypt in March and a 0-0 draw with Zimbabwe last weekend.
Ahead of Nigeria’s last warm-up match, a friendly against Senegal on Sunday, Ighalo insisted that the team will be at their best for the AFCON, which gets underway on Friday 21 June.
“Everyone can give their opinion on the team but what I know is that this team will surprise everyone at the AFCON because we have the quality to go all the way,” Ighalo told Goal.
“For us as a team, we will keep working hard and ensure we give our best at all-time especially at the AFCON where all eyes will be on us. I don’t think we have any problem with our strikers and they are not suffering from any dip in form.
He added, “We have been working hard as a team to bring smiles back to the faces of Nigerians and hopefully when we get to the tournament proper we will start scoring goals that we haven’t scored in recent matches.
“We are confident that Eagles will shine in Egypt but we have the utmost respect for our opponents.”
Nigeria opens their Nations Cup campaign with a clash against Burundi in Alexandria on June 22.
Iwobi most popular player ahead of Mikel, Onyekuru, Chukwueze
A week before Nigeria’s first game at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Arsenal winger, Alex Iwobi will head into the tournament as the most popular player named to the Super Eagles roster, based on Wikipedia page views.
The Hale End Academy product has had 33,916 page views in the past 30 days on his Wikipedia entry, more than any other player in the Nigeria squad.
Second on the list is Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel with 32,445 page views, followed by Everton’s Henry Onyekuru (20,297 page views) and Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze (19,263 page views).
The two players who are under the age of 23 have been linked with moves to other clubs since the end of the season, so it is not surprising that they have made the top four players.
The three least popular players manager Gernot Rohr took to Egypt are: Daniel Akpeyi (1,482 page views), Ikechukwu Ezenwa (1,511 page views) and Chidozie Awaziem (2,020 page views) in that order.

Super Eagles Most Popular Players (Wikipedia)
1) Alex Iwobi – 33,916 page views
2) Obi Mikel – 32,445 page views
3) Henry Onyekuru – 20,297 page views
4) Samuel Chukwueze – 19,263 page views
5) Ola Aina – 16,681 page views
6) Ahmed Musa – 13,804 page views
7) Wilfred Ndidi – 13,743 page views
8) Odion Ighalo – 9,416 page views
9) Victor Osimhen – 8,402 page views
10) Kenneth Omeruo – 5,305 page views
11) Paul Onuachu – 4,709 page views
12) Francis Uzoho – 4,062 page views
13) Leon Balogun – 4,046 page views
14) Moses Simon – 3,740 page views
15) Oghenekaro Etebo – 3,722 page views
16) Samuel Kalu – 3,230 page views
16) Troost-Ekong – 3,088 page views
18) Jamilu Collins – 2,820 page views
19) John Ogu – 2,614 page views
20) Abdullahi Shehu – 2,037 page views
21) Chidozie Awaziem – 2,020 page views
22) Ikechukwu Ezenwa – 1,511 page views
23) Daniel Akpeyi – 1,482 page views

DID YOU KNOW?
1.    Maurizio Sarri remained unbeaten in his opening 12 Premier League games, the longest unbeaten start by any manager in the     competition.
2.    Since his return to the club in 2016, Paul Pogba has been involved in more goals in all competitions than any other Manchester United player (31 goals, 29 assists).
3.    On the only previous occasion that Liverpool started a league season at home against Norwich City, the Reds won the top-flight league title ahead of Manchester City in 2nd (1976-77). Liverpool beat Norwich 1-0 at Anfield on Match Day 1 that season.
4.    Chiamaka Nnadozie has become the youngest ever goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a Women’s World Cup game.
5.    10 – Nichelle Prince is the 10th different player to both score and assist in a game at this edition of the Women’s World Cup, with half of those players coming from North America.
6.    Sweden has progressed to the knockout stages in seven of their eight participation at the FIFA Women Word Cup, failing to do so only in 2007.
7.    No team has conceded more goals in a single edition of the Women World Cup than the 18 Thailand have shipped so far in 2019 (Argentina in 2007 also 18).
8.    Only USA (40) and Spain (27) attempted more shots than Sweden (24) on Match Day 1 of the Women World Cup, while Thailand attempted the fewest of any nation (2).
9.    New Zealand is winless in each of their 13 Women’s World Cup matches, drawing three and losing the other 10.
10.    Sweden has scored three goals in the first half of a #FIFAWWC match for the first time since they were 4-0 up against Germany at half-time in the 1991 third-place play-off.
11.    Sweden’s Linda Sembrant’s goal after just five minutes and 24     seconds is the earliest to be scored in a Women World Cup match this year.
12.    Nigeria is the first African side in Women’s World Cup history to win their second group game at the tournament, with 12 of the previous 13 of such matches ending in defeat for sides from Africa.
13.    Romelu Lukaku has scored 24 goals in his last 21 appearances for Belgium, including seven in his last six.
14.    Jordan Pickford is the first-ever goalkeeper to take (and score) a penalty for England in a competitive penalty shootout.

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