Football
Turkish side Trabzonspor in love with Ademola Lookman
Trabzonspor are interested in adding Nigerian wing wizard, Ademola Lookman, to their playing personnel and have registered their interest with the player’s parent club RB Leipzig, says Turkish publications Fotomac. Lookman is not short of suitors after impressing last term during a loan spell in the Premier League with Fulham. The former Everton ace scored four goals and added another four assists in 34 matches for the Cottagers. It was not enough, though, to help the London-based side avoid relegation to the Championship just a year after celebrating a long-overdue promotion. Fulham paid €2 million to Leipzig last summer before they could get the Super Eagles hopeful, and Trabzonspor may need to cough up an equivalent sum to acquire the services of the 23-year-old. A couple of years ago, ...
Georginio Wijnaldum joins PSG on three-year deal
Paris Saint-Germain have announced the signing of Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum from Liverpool on a three-year contract. The Ligue 1 giants made the announcement in a statement released on their official website on Thursday. “Paris Saint-Germain is delighted to announce the transfer of Georginio Wijnaldum. Arriving from Liverpool, the Netherlands international midfielder has signed with the club from the French capital until 30 June 2024. “Born in Rotterdam, and a product of the Sparta Rotterdam youth academy, he played for two of the biggest clubs in his homeland in Feyenoord (135 matches, 25 goals) and then PSV Eindhoven (154 matches, 56 goals) with whom he won the 2014-15 Eredivisie title. “After a season at Newcastle United, ‘Gini’ joined Liverpool FC in the summer of 2016. The ...
Michael Owen: Phil Foden will set Euro 2020 on fire
Former England striker Michael Owen has tipped Manchester City midfielder, Phil Foden to shine for the Three Lions in Euro 2020. Foden, who was a star for the Citizens in the just concluded Premier League, where Manchester City was crowned champions, will be hoping to replicate Owen’s performance at the tournament. In a chat TribalFootball, Owen stated that Foden will set Euro 2020 on fire. “I think Foden is special, he’s different. I think we are talking about someone that could be great, he could be world-class,” Owen said. “His strength is the way he moves, his first touch. It’s all effortless, the way he glides into the game. A lot of people take a touch and then move. Everything he does is so easy on the eye. “He has real speed that people don’t even notice because he doesn’t look lik...
Inter Miami owner ‘optimistic’ that Leo Messi will join in the future
Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas believes his side will be able to land Barcelona star Lionel Messi in the future. Messi’s contract with Barcelona will expire at the end of this month and the club is desperately trying to tie down the 33-year-old to a new deal. Various reports have stated that Messi’s potential Barca extension would include a provision for him to play two more seasons in Spain, then move to Inter Miami in 2023. Mas confirmed that he and Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham have been involved in talks to bring Messi to Florida. “David and I have been working really hard, we have aspirations of bringing the best players here and Leo Messi is a generational player, arguably the best player of all time,” Mas told the Miami Herald. “I am optimistic Messi will play in an Inter Miami sh...
Manchester United ready to listen to offers for Dean Henderson
Manchester United are willing to listen to offers for goalkeeper Dean Henderson amid concerns over his attitude, Football Insider claims. The England international started last season as the back-up goalkeeper behind David de Gea, but he became a regular during the back end of the campaign. Despite this, he was ignored for the Europa League final against Villarreal. The club lost via a penalty shoot-out, with De Gea failing to save any of the 11 spot-kicks. Ahead of next season, the club are planning a radical overhaul of the goalkeeping department, and they have already released Sergio Romero and Joel Pereira. The club are also open to offers for Henderson and De Gea but acknowledge that they may struggle to offload the latter due to his hefty £350,000-a-week wages. Henderson is said to b...
PSG steals Georginio Wijnaldum from Barca’s grips with better offer
Liverpool’s Dutch midfielder, Georginio Wijnaldum, who had been a long-time target to firm up the Catalan midfield for Barcelona, made a sudden volte face by deciding for former French Ligue champions Paris Saint-Germain instead. Just when the details of his move from former English Premier League champions Liverpool were almost fully sorted with arrangements on course for Wijnaldum’s medicals at Camp Nou, PSG jumped ahead to challenge for the midfielder’s interest with a juicier offer which appears to have worked in their favour. The Ligue 1 side has now won the race to sign 30-year-old central midfielder on a free transfer from Liverpool. PSG found their way around advanced talks between Wijnaldum and Barca by showing the defender their determination to attract him to Paris by improving ...
Gernot Rohr: Super Eagles will be ready for 2022 World Cup qualifiers
Gernot Rohr has declared the Super Eagles will be ready to get off to a good start in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in September. The Eagles prepared for the World Cup qualifiers with two test matches against Cameroon in Austria, losing one and drawing the other. In September, they first welcome Liberia to Lagos, before they embark on a tricky trip to Cape Verde. “We will be ready in September for the World Cup qualifiers,” Rohr said after today’s goalless draw with Cameroon in Austria. “We hope the fans can return to the stadium in September after this crazy Pandemic (Coronavirus), which has made everything difficult. “We have to start well in Lagos (vs Liberia) and four days later, we play in Cape Verde. “Cape Verde beat Cameroon 3-1 on their synthetic pitch recently. So, we know already...
Paul Onuachu wins Ebony Shoe Award for Best African Player in Belgium
Paul Onuachu has won the Ebony Shoe award for the Best African player In Belgium for the 2020/21 season, reports Completesports.com. The Nigeria international succeeded Antwerp and Congo Democratic Republic forward Dieurmaci Mbokani as the winner of this year’s award. The 27-year-old was top scorer in the Belgian Pro-League with 29 goals in 33 appearances. He scored four times in five games in the Jupiler Pro League PlayOff and once in the Beker van Belgie to bring his total tally to 35 in 41 games. The striker is the fifth Nigerian to win the award after Daniel Amiokachi (1992,1994), Victor Ikpeba (1993), Godwin Okapara (1995) and Celestine Babayaro (1996). Onuachu beats his Genk teammate Théo Bongonda who scored 18 goals and bagged six appearances in 39 games in all competitions; RSC And...
Maduka Okoye: Super Eagles ready for revenge vs Cameroon
Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye says the team will look to avenge last Friday’s defeat to Cameroon when they face the Indomitable Lions in their second friendly on Tuesday night. Zambo Anguissa struck in the 37th minute to hand Antonio Conceicao’s side their first win against the West Africans in over two decades. The Super Eagles created a number of chances after the break but failed to make them count. Gernot Rohr’s charges have another opportunity to make amend in the second friendly and Okoye is confident they will come out with a win this time around. “We have taken some positives from the first match against Cameroon,” the Sparta Rotterdam of Holland goalie told the NFF media. “We had a good game and it was unfortunate that they scored with just that one shot on target. “However...
Euro 2020: Germany still need some work ahead of France opener – coach
Germany still need to work on parts of their game before the start of the European Championship, coach Joachim Loew said on Sunday at the end of their nine-day training camp in Austria. The Germans, starting their tournament against world champions France on June 15, play their last warm-up match against Latvia on Monday. The Euros open on Friday. “I cannot fully draw conclusions from our camp just yet because our preparation continues and after the game tomorrow we have a week in Duesseldorf to prepare for France,” Loew, going into his final tournament as Germany coach, told a news conference. Loew has been in charge since 2006 and will be succeeded by his former assistant and former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick after the tournament. The Germans also play European champions Portugal as...
West Brom release 18 players including Branislav Ivanovic, Kieran Gibbs, Hal Robson-Kanu
West Brom have released 18 players as they prepare for life in the Championship. The Baggies wave goodbye to senior stars Charlie Austin, Branislav Ivanovic, Kieran Gibbs and Hal Robson-Kanu. Sam Allardyce could not save the Midlands side from the drop – the first Premier League relegation in his managerial career – after taking over from Slaven Bilic. West Brom have since parted company with the Dudley native. The 19th placed Baggies ended up 13 points from safety as they dropped back down to the Championship at the first time of asking. And their relegation has seen nearly 20 players culled from their squad. Joining well known quartet Austin, Gibbs, Ivanovic and Robson-Kanu in departing the Hawthorns, are Zak Brown, Nicholas Clayton-Phillips, Chiekh Diaby, Tyrese Dyce and Samuel French. ...
Marcus Rashford penalty gives England win over Romania in Euro warm-up
Marcus Rashford’s penalty earned England an unconvincing 1-0 win over Romania in their final warm-up friendly ahead of Euro 2020 in Middlesbrough on Sunday. However, victory for Gareth Southgate’s men was again overshadowed by booing from supporters as the players took the knee before kick-off. Southgate’s selection will also be questioned as he named an experimental line-up with five players who are not part of his final squad making an appearance at some point in the game. There is still one place up for grabs in Southgate’s 26-man squad, though, due to an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold. James Ward-Prowse, Ben Godfrey and Ben White were all given the chance to further their case from the start, while Jesse Lingard and Ollie Watkins came off the bench in the second-half. An inexperience...
