We need a thread for DEFENDERS AND MIDFIELDERS

[maceo4]

Some player named Akor Adam’s just joined Montpelier, don’t really know the player https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvpSD-Nv ... BiNWFlZA==

[niyi]

Some player named Akor Adam’s just joined Montpelier, don’t really know the player https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvpSD-Nv ... BiNWFlZA==

Wiki says he’s a striker

[Sunset]

Some player named Akor Adam’s just joined Montpelier, don’t really know the player https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvpSD-Nv ... BiNWFlZA==

He's a CF was part of our 2019 U20 set

[Lolly]

Daniel Daga flew in from London this morning, so it’s possible he was returning from contract discussions with clubs either in the UK or Europe. He was picked up by a guy that looks like his agent.

But he really can’t sign any contact till he is 18, and he is still 16. Doesn’t look 16 though.

[niyi]

Daniel Daga flew in from London this morning, so it’s possible he was returning from contract discussions with clubs either in the UK or Europe. He was picked up by a guy that looks like his agent.

But he really can’t sign any contact till he is 18, and he is still 16. Doesn’t look 16 though.

They overdid the age thing and it’s going to affect his development.

[Sunset]

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Russia and Ukraine ought to be no go destinations for our young players


Cheers.

[Gotti]

Daniel Daga flew in from London this morning, so it’s possible he was returning from contract discussions with clubs either in the UK or Europe. He was picked up by a guy that looks like his agent.

But he really can’t sign any contact till he is 18, and he is still 16. Doesn’t look 16 though.

They overdid the age thing and it’s going to affect his development.

Ageologists again!

Obviously, I personally cannot vouch for his age, but Daniel Daga is one player that has been on the public’s radar here in NIGERIA and has been tracked since he was playing JUNIOR secondary school in Akwa Ibom, through the Shell Cup and Principals Cup competition, through the academy that was assembled by the House of Reps dude in Uyo, through playing for the local club (in the NNL) while still playing for his secondary school, to being invited to the U17 Eaglets from where Bosso conscripted him for the Flying Eagles. There’s a picture of him from like 2 or 3 years ago where he “looked all” of 11 years old.

Without prejudice, athletes are physically “overdeveloped” (and some mature faster mentally from their experiences).

[Gotti]

Samson Tijani came on at half-time for RB Salzburg versus Inter Milan in a 3-4 friendly game loss…

[Sunset]

20 Y/O Left Back James Ajako signs for Moroccan side FUS Rabat from Akwa United, he was arguably the best performing LB in the NPFL last season with only Ebube Duru was performing at the same level as him IMO

[bret- hart]

20 Y/O Left Back James Ajako signs for Moroccan side FUS Rabat from Akwa United, he was arguably the best performing LB in the NPFL last season with only Ebube Duru was performing at the same level as him IMO

One to watch out for. He should have been part of Bo$$os u20 team but Bo$$o gonna Bo$$o

[The Observer]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

[maceo4]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

[Tobi17]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

[maceo4]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

[Tobi17]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

[maceo4]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

What you just wrote makes zero sense, you do know the rules have changed right? We can’t just cap tie him with a few minutes. Your sense is the one that needs to be questioned and is baffling as you keep suggesting all and sundry like Akinsanmiro et al that no other country is dragging with us to be fast tracked into the NT before they have even established themselves at their club.

We can agree to disagree but don’t be talking ish because I don’t agree with NOT having a standard for a NT like you do. A NT is NOT a youth team and shouldn’t be treated as such. It should be a team of the best most proven players available to a country. You not wanting a standard is fine, but don’t act like that actually makes sense when it doesn’t and isn’t done anywhere else. So I’m gonna challenge it everytime.

Either way neither of us can make the SE do what we want so I’m not sure why you are here dragging over trivial things and getting insulting because I don’t agree with you…grow up bro…there’s more to life if you haven’t yet figured that out…

[Tobi17]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

What you just wrote makes zero sense, you do know the rules have changed right? We can’t just cap tie him with a few minutes. Your sense is the one that needs to be questioned and is baffling as you keep suggesting all and sundry like Akinsanmiro et al that no other country is dragging with us to be fast tracked into the NT before they have even established themselves at their club.

We can agree to disagree but don’t be talking ish because I don’t agree with NOT having a standard for a NT like you do. A NT is NOT a youth team and shouldn’t be treated as such. It should be a team of the best most proven players available to a country. You not wanting a standard is fine, but don’t act like that actually makes sense when it doesn’t and isn’t done anywhere else. So I’m gonna challenge it everytime.

Either way neither of us can make the SE do what we want so I’m not sure why you are here dragging over trivial things and getting insulting because I don’t agree with you…grow up bro…there’s more to life if you haven’t yet figured that out…

Really sad, what a poor feedback from you Mace, I expected better! maybe you need some time off my brother once again you conveniently evaded my question depth? injuries to our regular full-backs? loss of form? What if this kid becomes the next sensation and gets Italy's attention...then we fall back to the same old story of "had we known"

It's "impressive" how you think suggesting a player who wants to represent Nigeria should go through our youth system is a smart idea knowing our history of mishandling opportunities, as if you don't know how inherently corrupt our youth national team coaches are! Look at how Alaba was treated, need I remind you of the other foreign born who were eligible for Nigeria yet were dropped by that criminal Salisu during the build up to the U23 tournament...same Ladan Bosso's U20 team that was absolutely toothless at the U20 WC because he failed to pick some decent players (who were also eligible to represent us and showed as much enthusiasm).

You really want this lad to go through all that incompetence again? Doesn't David Alaba ring a bell to you?

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

Your argument is weak on many different levels.

First of all, as with any young player, his skills must be weighed against the requirements of the entire team, which includes the bench and peripheral players. We have lots of 19-21 year-old prospects all over the world. How does he stack up against them. There’s a big difference between monitoring a prospect, something we should always do, and committing to a prospect without any evaluation whatsoever.

Secondly, your assumption that our senior national team has managed to be devoid of the corruption which you think is prevalent in our youth setup is, to say the least, unrealistic… unless of course you believe that senior national team officials are cut from a different cloth than youth team officials.

Lastly, if we acquire the reputation of cap-tying players just to make them unavailable to other countries then we would run the risk of losing the kind players we are really interested in because no prospective player will trust us not to discard them at our pleasure.

The obvious conclusion is that we should cap-tie prospects only when we are sure they will fit into our system


Cheers.

[Tobi17]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

Your argument is weak on many different levels.

First of all, as with any young player, his skills must be weighed against the requirements of the entire team, which includes the bench and peripheral players. We have lots of 19-21 year-old prospects all over the world. How does he stack up against them. There’s a big difference between monitoring a prospect, something we should always do, and committing to a prospect without any evaluation whatsoever.

Secondly, your assumption that our senior national team has managed to be devoid of the corruption which you think is prevalent in our youth setup is, to say the least, unrealistic… unless of course you believe that senior national team officials are cut from a different cloth than youth team officials.

Lastly, if we acquire the reputation of cap-tying players just to make them unavailable to other countries then we would run the risk of losing the kind players we are really interested in because no prospective player will trust us not to discard them at our pleasure


Cheers.

Let me rebutt your submissions with a simple "what if" conjecture. What if this Obarentin kid who appears to have emerged out of the blues to indicate his interest in playing for Nigeria ends up having a great season with Napoli or even becomes the next big thing in the shortest span imaginable, and then inevitably gets spotlighted by the Azurri who then call him up to their senior NT to avert our chances of getting him...what then will be your honest feedback? "Oh here's another wonder kid we lost to Italy" cause we failed to build on our odds and chances by getting this unexplored yet curiously exciting projects before they became "hot on the market?"

And yet again you and Mace have failed to respond to my previously raised points about having/building squad depth with every eligible players that we can find and also willing to don the GWG...is the concept of squad depth in the events of injuries to our regular full-backs ( that will require a like for like replacement in this case), loss of form etc lost on you guys?

We have a player who just came from the ranks of Napoli (a top Seria A team) that is yet uncapped by Italy and wants to represent Nigeria, we have AFCON coming up by January next year, and we should hopefully have friendly matches lined up within the year to hopefully test out new players, formations etc, will heavens fall if we invite this Obaretine kid in a friendly game and see how he blends in? I mean he's 20...Ghana literally fielded a 19 yr old kid (Ernest Nuamah) in their last qualifying games to give him first team experience...and he immediately stood out for them, he's currently one of the best young talents in Europe just based on the validity of senior football experience.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Nosa Edward Obaretine
Club: Napoli
Date of birth/Age: Jan 26, 2003 (20)
Citizenship: Italy, Nigeria
Height: 1,93 m
Position: Centre-Back/Left Back
International: Uncapped

https://owngoalnigeria.com/2023/08/10/i ... -declares/

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

Your argument is weak on many different levels.

First of all, as with any young player, his skills must be weighed against the requirements of the entire team, which includes the bench and peripheral players. We have lots of 19-21 year-old prospects all over the world. How does he stack up against them. There’s a big difference between monitoring a prospect, something we should always do, and committing to a prospect without any evaluation whatsoever.

Secondly, your assumption that our senior national team has managed to be devoid of the corruption which you think is prevalent in our youth setup is, to say the least, unrealistic… unless of course you believe that senior national team officials are cut from a different cloth than youth team officials.

Lastly, if we acquire the reputation of cap-tying players just to make them unavailable to other countries then we would run the risk of losing the kind players we are really interested in because no prospective player will trust us not to discard them at our pleasure


Cheers.

Let me rebutt your submissions with a simple "what if" conjecture. What if this Obarentin kid who appears to have emerged out of the blues to indicate his interest in playing for Nigeria ends up having a great season with Napoli or even becomes the next big thing in the shortest span imaginable, and then inevitably gets spotlighted by the Azurri who then call him up to their senior NT to avert our chances of getting him...what then will be your honest feedback? "Oh here's another wonder kid we lost to Italy" cause we failed to build on our odds and chances by getting this unexplored yet curiously exciting projects before they became "hot on the market?"

And yet again you and Mace have failed to respond to my previously raised points about having/building squad depth with every eligible players that we can find and also willing to don the GWG...is the concept of squad depth in the events of injuries to our regular full-backs ( that will require a like for like replacement in this case), loss of form etc lost on you guys?

You haven’t introduced anything new to warrant doubling down on your position. First, we monitor him and if he shows real potential then we invite him. Note that there is nothing we can do, whatever the case, to avoid Italy’s interest in him. It boils down to what the kid wants and if, as reported, he’s really interested in playing for Nigeria then we have nothing to worry about.

I can’t speak for Mace but I, at least, have addressed your issue of squad depth but perhaps, you weren’t listening. How do you know he has that kind of potential? How do you know he’ll even fit into the team? How do we know he has more potential than all the other prospects we have coming up? We won’t know until we’ve monitored him at club level. If you actually read the OwnGoal article then it is crystal clear that at this point, there is absolutely no guarantee he’ll even get Into Napoli’s squad


Cheers.

[maceo4]

We need to get him on one of our youth teams ASAP to get him acclimatized to how naija does things.

Youth team at 20? Why not just get him into the senior team already? lots of national teams literally have players already playing international senior team football at 19! stop this crude reasoning of shoe-horning every young eligible talents into some corrupt youth system where he might be asked to "drop" before being considered (that's how we lost players like Alaba etc)

What are you going on about? Can he displace our current LBs in the NT? The way you would have it, any young player associated with any team in Europe must be called into the NT, I really don't get that thought process...

Whatever happened to having him on the bench at least for depth, or injuries to the regulars, or training with with the team to get a feel of international football? Do you really trust our corrupt youth coaches not to make this kid lose interest in playing for Nigeria (especially now that he's unexplored territory for Italy), who knows if he will be the next big thing in football before Italy focus their radar on him? Will it hurt to cap-tie him for few minutes in a crucial tournament game so Italy won't get him?

Mace you be my guy but most of your takes these days are baffling tbh, you make Bigpokey sound like Isaac Newton most times.

Your argument is weak on many different levels.

First of all, as with any young player, his skills must be weighed against the requirements of the entire team, which includes the bench and peripheral players. We have lots of 19-21 year-old prospects all over the world. How does he stack up against them. There’s a big difference between monitoring a prospect, something we should always do, and committing to a prospect without any evaluation whatsoever.

Secondly, your assumption that our senior national team has managed to be devoid of the corruption which you think is prevalent in our youth setup is, to say the least, unrealistic… unless of course you believe that senior national team officials are cut from a different cloth than youth team officials.

Lastly, if we acquire the reputation of cap-tying players just to make them unavailable to other countries then we would run the risk of losing the kind players we are really interested in because no prospective player will trust us not to discard them at our pleasure


Cheers.

Let me rebutt your submissions with a simple "what if" conjecture. What if this Obarentin kid who appears to have emerged out of the blues to indicate his interest in playing for Nigeria ends up having a great season with Napoli or even becomes the next big thing in the shortest span imaginable, and then inevitably gets spotlighted by the Azurri who then call him up to their senior NT to avert our chances of getting him...what then will be your honest feedback? "Oh here's another wonder kid we lost to Italy" cause we failed to build on our odds and chances by getting this unexplored yet curiously exciting projects before they became "hot on the market?"

And yet again you and Mace have failed to respond to my previously raised points about having/building squad depth with every eligible players that we can find and also willing to don the GWG...is the concept of squad depth in the events of injuries to our regular full-backs ( that will require a like for like replacement in this case), loss of form etc lost on you guys?

You haven’t introduced anything new to warrant doubling down on your position. First, we monitor him and if he shows real potential then we invite him. Note that there is nothing we can do, whatever the case, to avoid Italy’s interest in him. It boils down to what the kid wants and if, as reported, he’s really interested in playing for Nigeria then we have nothing to worry about.

I can’t speak for Mace but I, at least, have addressed your issue of squad depth but perhaps, you weren’t listening. How do you know he has that kind of potential? How do you know he’ll even fit into the team? How do we know he has more potential than all the other prospects we have coming up? We won’t know until we’ve monitored him at club level. If you actually read the OwnGoal article then it is crystal clear that at this point, there is absolutely no guarantee he’ll even get Into Napoli’s squad


Cheers.

Are you minding Tobi, his stance makes zero sense and is done by no other NT yet he keeps going on about it no matter the amount of common sense you try to introduce he won't listen. But you can tell when someone doesn't really have an argument they just start resorting to insults and derision. I mean FIFA literally changed the cap tie rules so we can't do what he is suggesting, yet he keeps going on about it and wanting players who have yet to prove anything to fill up the NT...Its a very weird concept that no other top NT does...

Allowing young players to play a couple games before becoming cap-tied was a change to the rules announced during the 2020 FIFA congress, with the hope to prevent "one-cap wonders"; it was seen as an opportunity for some dual-national players, like Spanish-Moroccan Munir El Haddadi, who were called-up as promising players for European nations, but not afforded more than one or two caps, to elevate the level of their African heritage nations.[3]

[Gotti]

Some player named Akor Adam’s just joined Montpelier, don’t really know the player https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvpSD-Nv ... BiNWFlZA==

Kai! Basketballer fan…
You don’t know Akor who played for the Flying Eagles under Paul Aigbogun in the U20 WC 2019.