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How Nigerian players fared in Europe last weekend

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It was another eventful weekend for Nigerian players across the European Leagues as some were in the limelight for their sterling performances.

It was however not the same for some others who were not considered good enough for action for varying reasons.

PREMIUM TIMES again takes you on a voyage around the Leagues across Europe to give you a scorecard on the performances of Nigerian players

England

It was another sweet weekend for Victor Moses and his Chelsea teammates as they recorded their eighth win on the bounce, beating Manchester City 1-3 and thus retaining their number one position on the EPL standings.

Moses was in the thick of action as usual, putting up a credible display and he lasted the entirety of the game played at the Etihad Stadium

It was however same awry story for his compatriot, John Obi Mikel, who has been continually overlooked by Coach Antonio.

In the same game, Kelechi Iheanacho started from the bench in the 78th minute when City were down, but could not do anything to get them back into the game.

At the Olympic  Stadium, Arsenal were 5-1 winners over West Ham but it appears Alex Iwobi has lost his place in the starting lineup as he was only introduced in the 88th minute and had very little or no time to make an impact. Meanwhile, Chuba Akpom was not listed.

Though Victor Anichebe could not add to his goals tally for Sunderland, he ended on the winning side as they beat Ahmed Musa’s Leicester City 2-1.

Anichebe played all 90 minutes while Musa was introduced in the 73rd minute but couldn’t help the Foxes get even a solitary point from the Stadium of Light.

At the Hawthorns, West Brom beat Watford 3-1 with Odion Ighalo coming off the bench in the 77th minute but fired blanks, while Isaac Success returned from injury but was on the bench all through.

And in the Championship, Carl Ikeme returned to action for Wolves, but lasted only 83 minutes as he was taken off after an injury scare in the 2-1 win over QPR.

At the Craven Cottage Stadium, in-form Sone Aluko scored one as Fulham hit the hapless Reading 5-0. He was taken off in the 76th minute though.

Spain

Uche Agbo and his Granada side finally got their bearing as they secured their first win of the season, beating Sevilla 2-1 with the former Nigeria youth international playing for 77 minutes.

Italy

In Serie A, Joel Obi was missing in action for Torino owing to another injury setback and his team were beaten 2-0 by Sampdoria.

France

Vincent Enyeama was in goal as usual for Lille and kept a clean sheet as they beat Bordeaux 1-0 away from home and put in an impressive display to stop the hosts.

Germany

Mainz suffered a 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich despite scoring first, with Leon Balogun playing all through and his mistake that led to the free kick that earned Bayern’s third goal late in the game.

It was a similar story for Obinna Nsofor, whose Darmstadt were beaten 2-0 at home by Hamburger SV. However, the Nigeria international did not make it out of the bench.

Holland

Former Super Eagles striker, Bartholomew Ogbeche, was unused in Willem II’s 0-0 draw at home to Twente.

Abduljeleel Ajagun was on from start to finish for Roda JC but could not find the back of the net as they held the Dutch champions PSV to a goalless draw.

Elsewhere, Super Eagles invitee, Tyrone Ebuehi, played all through for Ado Den Haag but could not prevent them from going down 2-0 at home to Utrecht.

Belgium

Leicester City target Wilfried Ndidi played the entire duration for Genk, as they succumbed to a 2-1 home defeat to Lokeren despite taking the early lead.

Super Eagles left back, Elderson Echiejile, was not listed for Standard Liege in their 3-1 win over Charleroi. Still in the Jupiler League, winger Moses Simon only enjoyed a cameo, coming on in the 86th minute for Gent as they drew 0-0 with Westerlo.

Meanwhile, the other Nigerians at the club – Anderson Esiti and Rabiu Ibrahim – were not listed.

Greece

Super Eagles striker, Brown Ideye, found the back of the net twice for Olympiacos as they thrashed Levadiakos 4-0 to remain the top scorer in Greece with nine goals.

Turkey

Former Dolphins striker, Emem Eduok, found the back of the net for Kasimpasa but it was not enough as they lost 2-1 to Galatasaray. He was replaced in the 67th minute. Meanwhile, former junior international, Aminu Umar, was an 85th minute substitute in Osmanlispor’s 2-1 home win over Kardemir Karabuk.

Kenneth Omeruo played all through for Alanyaspor but his contributions weren’t enough to prevent them going down 2-3 at home to Konyaspor. He however avoided getting into the referees’ book.

Former Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike was not listed for Fenerbahce in their goalless draw with Besiktas.

Nigerian Clubs made N5bn from Transfer Fees in 10 Months – NFF

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Nigerian football clubs raked in a whopping N5billion in the first 10 months of 2016, from selling local players abroad.

This was revealed by Nasir Jubril, who is the manager of Transfer Matching System (TMS) of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Jubril was speaking to reporters at the ongoing Domestic Transfer Matching Systems (DTMS) worship in Abuja on Wednesday.

“In the last 10 months, that is between January and October this year, a cash inflow of about N5 billion has accrued to the clubs in Nigeria from the transfer of players,” he said.

“For instance, if a player is bought for say two or three million pounds, when you multiply that with the exchange rate you can imagine what we are talking about.”

Jubril however, did not provide further details on which clubs earned what amount, the exchange rates used and how the money was routed into the country.

Unbelievable! Mom Goes Clubbing With Colleagues Leaving Toddler Alone In Car

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This shocking photo shows a hysterical toddler screaming for help after being left in a locked car while his mother went clubbing with her work colleagues.

In astonishing scenes, a dramatic confrontation erupted between the party animal parent, 25, and a group of concerned bystanders who called the police.

One angry man damaged the woman’s car resulting in her reporting him to the cops for vandalism. The two-year-old’s cries were said to be heard by the group of passers-by in the early hours of


Sunday morning.

When they found the distraught child locked in the vehicle without any adult supervision they phoned the authorities.

The police, who arrived at the scene shortly after, called a mechanic to bust the frightened toddler out of the car before the clubbing-fanatic mother turned up 20 minutes later.

The police in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, said in a statement that the mother had left the child so that she could party at a nightclub with her workmates.

They said the young woman faces charges for “dereliction of the duty of care of her child in front of the public prosecutors”.

Dangote Cannot Afford To Buy Arsenal Football Club – Etcetera Writes ..

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You have sold some shares and you’ve got some money to spend. Now you want the ultimate: Your own football club. Hold on there, are you sure? Football clubs are a nightmare to run. In fact, almost two-thirds of premiership clubs have been in receivership at some point. Remember Portsmouth FC ploughed through four owners some seasons back and landed itself a debt of £60m and relegation in the Championship.
Think of Leeds United’s tragicomic collapse; the balls-up at Cambridge United; Rotherham going into receivership in 2006 and 2008; Southampton’s sorry saga. And, of course, Crawley Town getting a winding up order years back. So, what do we know? Don’t buy a football club for the glory. So, before Dangote aspires to join Abrahamovic, Glazers and Al Mansours, he should make sure he
knows his stuff.
But does Dangote know how much these football clubs really cost?
No, he can’t. New UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations already in place, require clubs to balance their income and expenses. Dangote cannot operate under such rules. The premiership is too organised and transparent for any businessman to easily manipulate. The wage structure of footballers is too large for a businessman like Dangote to take on. Let us forget that those goons at Forbes have told us that Dangote is Africa’s richest man. As it stands, he cannot afford the outright purchase of a big football club like Arsenal. It is as simple as that. He will go broke. It is a possibility if we are talking about a club in the coast of West Africa. Dangote has most of his wealth in shares and physical assets and the football business requires liquid cash to sustain. Have we all forgotten that the same Dangote got a 3G licence and sold it to Etisalat? He is a very smart businessman who knows how to pick his areas of investments.
Can he get Bank backing?
Unlikely! No serious private equity firm would get involved with a football club. They are not proper businesses. Too much politics, too many egos. And there’s no proper exit route – the history of football clubs on the stock market is chequered, to say the least. They are rich men’s toys, great for entertaining your mates, and that’s about it. I don’t think Dangote can afford such an expensive toy.
A lot of people think it is relatively easy to make a million pounds by being the owner of a football club. That all you have to do is put in that first two million pounds. But these people should also know that since the English Premier League was formed in 1992, football finances have dried up to the extent that making a million pound profit is no longer a walk in the park. It is also the case that buying a football club is unlikely to yield that much of a return. Despite the significant TV and other commercial revenues, football clubs in England’s top flight still struggle to break even. This is ironic, given the goal of setting up the Premier League was to stabilise club finances.
Is Dangote putting his heart over his head?
Yes I think so. Simon Jordan, in his autobiography, tells the story of how owning a football club can go terribly wrong. Jordan amassed a fortune of £75m in the early days of the mobile phone revolution. In 2000, he paid £10m to take control of South London football team Crystal Palace, becoming the youngest football club chairman at the age of 32. He was warned by many not to do it, but having watched the club since his childhood, he could not resist. Fast-forward 10 years and the club was in administration and Jordan’s personal wealth largely wiped out. It is reported that Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea, has written off more than one billion pounds he ploughed into the club since acquiring it in 2003.
 Catching him up fast is Sheikh Mansour from Abu Dhabi, who has invested close to one billion pounds in Manchester City since 2008. Can Dangote write off such a huge amount of money? It is in fact the amount of money he borrows to invest in businesses. But again, I think Dangote is just trying to hype himself. Most of the serious money flowing into football recently has come from the Middle East. The Qatar Investment Authority (the country’s sovereign wealth fund) bought the French Ligue 1 side Paris St Germain in 2011 and has gone about transforming them in the same way Sheikh Mansour has Manchester City. Forget those guys at Forbes, Dangote is not in the same league as these guys.
The Glazer Family bought Manchester United in 2006, recognising the immense value of its global brand as a cash generator and the opportunities to enhance it even further. The cost of buying the club was loaded on to the club itself, with the revenues it generates used to pay the debt and interest that the Glazers undertook to buy the club. Eventually, the hope is that the club will essentially pay for itself leaving its American owners in possession of a multi-billion pound asset but till date, the Glazers are still gnashing their teeth and are still neck deep in debt. When it was speculated that a Middle East consortium was willing to pay £1.5bn for Arsenal Football Club, it was stated that Stan Kroenke, the American who owns about 63 per cent of the shares in the club, would have made just £400m on his shares. So, given the appalling financial returns, why do people buy football clubs?
Who can buy Arsenal football club?
Anyone can buy Arsenal football club, but that anyone doesn’t include anyone who obtains bank loans to fund a business. Sir John Madejski, chairman of Reading Football Club, describes the ideal football club owner as having deep pockets, mercurial, and not faint-hearted.
It is often mistaken that these clubs go for a quid. For instance, Swansea City was bought by investors for £100, and sold four years later for a £1. But beware: underneath those figures lies a pile of debt.
Does Dangote have the cash, can he do an Abramovich?