Izuchukwu OkosiThe action in Europe was lit with top performances by Nigerian players which culminated with a Monday night action between Nottingham Forest and Burnley in the English Premier League.
Prime Business Africa’s Izuchukwu Okosi presents the roundup of the players.
ENGLAND
Alex Iwobi (Fulham)
Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi made his debut for Fulham in their 1-0 win over Luton on Saturday.
The former Arsenal and Everton star came off the substitute bench to replace Harrison Reed in the 62nd minute, and was close to scoring late in the game but his effort hit the woodwork.
Frank Onyeka (Brentford)
Defensive midfielder Frank Onyeka came off the subs bench with 18 minutes to go Saturday evening as Brentford lost 1-0 to Newcastle United at the King James Park.
Onyeka who is making his third league appearance for the 2023/2024 season, replaced Christian Norgaard.
Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest)
Super Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi assisted Calum Hodson-Odoi’s 61st-minute equaliser for Nottingham Forest as they drew 1-1 with an enterprising Sheffield United on Monday night at the City Ground.
Awoniyi played for 88 minutes before he was subbed off for Australian striker Chris Wood.
Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City), Joe Aribo (Southampton)
Super Eagles midfielder and captain during the recent 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sao Tome and Principe, Wilfred Ndidi scored a brilliant goal for the Foxes in their 4-1 win against Southampton at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday evening.
Ndidi finished off a flowing move at the edge of the Saints’ penalty box with a low shot for the third goal of the game.
Kelechi Iheanacho came off the substitute bench for old warhorse Jamie Vardy with only six minutes to play.
Vardy was one of the scorers on the day for the 2015/2016 Premier League champions.
Super Eagles midfielder, Joe Aribo also came in as a second-half substitute for Southampton in the 78th minute and could do little to salvage a decent result for the home side.
Semi Ajayi (West Brom)
Super Eagles defender Semilore Ajayi was able to be counted as they played out a goalless draw away at Bristol City on Saturday. Ajayi played for the entire duration of the game.
The game was his fourth of the season in the Championship. Defensively, he was astute.
ITALY
Victor Osimhen (SS Napoli)
Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen fired blanks in SS Napoli’s 2-2 draw against Genoa on Saturday evening.
Osimhen was denied the chance to extend his three-goal margin this season for the Naples side; albeit, he was involved in the buildup to the second goal.
Osimhen has thus not scored in two consecutive games for the Serie A champions.
Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman was on target on Sunday evening as his team lost 3-2 away at Fiorentina.
The former Fulham and Leicester City winger grabbed an equaliser for his team eight minutes after the break but it was too little, too late as Ivorian winger Christian Kouame scored the winning goal for Fiorentina.
Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan)
Former Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench in AC Milan’s humiliating 5-1 defeat to City rivals, Inter Milan in the Milan derby on Saturday at San Siro.
The winger was called upon to replace United States forward Christian Pulisic in the 56th minute.
Chukwueze who is expected to start in the Rosenerri’s lineup on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League against Newcastle United has not opened his goals account for the former European champions since his arrival from the Yellow Submarine.
SPAIN
Umar Sadiq (Real Sociedad)
Super Eagles striker Umar Sadiq played for just nine minutes on Sunday evening at the rebranded Bernabeu stadium as Real Sociedad lost 2-1 to Real Madrid despite going forward.
Madrid has now won five games, chalking up 15 maximum points.
FRANCE
Moses Simon (Nantes)
Super Eagles forward Moses ‘Daddy’ Simon scored a 48th-minute strike as his first goal of the 2023/2024 season in the French Ligue 1 as Nantes best Clermont 1-0 on Sunday afternoon.
The win sees Nantes claim their first of the campaign after five matchdays.
The Nigerian scored five goals in the entirety of last season in the French top flight.
Terem Moffi (OGC Nice)
Super Eagles striker Terem Moffi put up a commanding performance and seemingly told Super Eagles coaches that he must be in the plans for the Nigerian squad ahead of the next international game against Saudi Arabia as well as the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in November.
Moffi scored a brace in the 3-2 defeat of Paris Saint-Germain who paraded Kylian Mbappe who by the way scored one of PSG’s goal with a ‘bicycle kick’
Moffi assisted Gaetan Laborde as the team restored their lead before his 68th-minute win. This has taken his tally to three goals this season in five League for Nice appearances this season.
Akor Adams (Montpellier)
Nigeria striker Akor Adams was in action for Montpelier on Sunday as they held Strasbourg to a 2-2 draw at the latter’s home ground.
Adams was yellow-carded in the 29th minute and was subbed off in the 70th minute. He has scored three goals in five Ligue 1 goals this season.
GERMANY
Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen)
Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface who made his international debut for Nigeria on September 10 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sao Tome and Principe was impressive albeit did not score in Leverkusen’s 2-2 home draw against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Friday night.
Boniface is the current Young Player of the Month (August) in the German Bundesliga. He has scored four goals and has two assists to his name so far in four games.
The 22-year-old Boniface was in action for 90 minutes and had a shot go narrowly off target towards the end of the game.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Rafiu Durosinmi (Viktoria Plzen)
Durosinmi scored a brace and also had an assist as Viktoria Plzen trashed Zlin 7-1 away from home on Sunday.
The Nigerian forward was on target in the 49th and 57th minutes.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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