₦airaland Forum

true a player can spend years in the academy before going to europe but in ndidi's case he had a track record of being involved in youth tournaments here in nigeria. i really wish there was a way to check his height during the u20 world cup against his current height that should prove beyond reasonable doubt that he's still a growing young man.

however i agree 100% that we need a proper transparent database.

goldfish80:
Ndidi actually failed MRI test and was banned subsequently for the CAF U17 championship with 2 other Nigerian players. Ghana and Ivory coast lost some players too due to MRI failure.

You will be making a huge mistake believing that everyone who went straight to Europe from local academies are young.
My brother, Premier league and national league clubs at the end of each season call for an open camp, where players from different academies and amateur clubs come and try out. The lucky 4 or 5 get signed up, out of those 5 maybe only 1 actually got signed up on merit. The rest got singed up due to normal naija man know man runs, padi padi and sometimes players come to camp cluching letters from senators or house of rep members.
The hands of coaches and club managers are usually tied because these clubs are actually owned by state governments. Player with such recommendations are given preferential treatments and get contracts in the end. The other players (usually in their 100s) go back to their amateur clubs and academies and wait for next open screening or contacts from little teams in Asia and obscure countries in Europe.
The following year the cycle contines, in an infinite loop so to say.

All in all, you can have a player who have played for an academy or been within the amateur rankings for more than 7years before getting any sort of attention. A friend of mine who is a professional goal keeper told me that lukman Haruna came for screening 3 previous U17 sets before he was considered and made the captain in 2007.
Haruna went from the academy system in Nigeria straight to Monaco. Am sure you get the picture.

on the wilred ndidi matter we shouldn't be too hasty to conclude that because he failed the MRI test he's then over aged. remember that american born nigerian boy who came for trials with the u17s of them kelechi, success set he also took the MRI scan and failed.

from stories i've have heard of ndidi before he moved abroad it's plausible that he's truly the age he says he is. stories of ikpeba and ugbade taking him along for youth tournaments which colin udoh confirmed in his article about ndidi. another pointer for me is that he was signed straight from his youth academy team Nath fc to europe.

komekn:
We know ourselves we be Naija, this is not shocking but normal, so we can choose to keep numb and not open this potential can of worms.

Just like Wilfred Ndidi who in 2013 failed an MRI scan for the U17 Eaglets, meaning he was most likely not even a teenager then. And is now on a multi million £ transfer to Leicester as a world class young teenage sensation. But let sleeping dogs lie.

the part about his lack of bookings got me interested. seems he's one who doesn't depend on brute strength or agidi football. nigeria lacks a lot of footballers who play with intelligence. hope everything about the deal sails through without any hitches. pray he can deal with the pressure already they are unfairly comparing him to kante but i trust ranieri to guide him and help refine his game further.

terzurum5:
Five things to know about soon-to-be Leicester star Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi
By Colin Udoh
www.nairaland.com/attachments/4612588_indidi_jpeg2e77dd649565828e95816f1a361be027

Wilfred Ndidi looks set to join Premier League champions Leicester City in January.

Early this week, Genk midfielder Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi passed a medical at Leicester City and is now set to complete a five-year deal initially worth £15 million. The deal could rise to as high as £19m, depending on add-ons.

But who is this talented 19-year-old who has enjoyed a breakout season in Belgium with Genk?

Here are five things you need to know about the future Foxes star:

1. Nurtured by World Cup winner

Ndidi started out playing organised street football in the barracks of Lagos under the tutelage of Nigeria Under-17 World Cup winning captain Nduka Ugbade.

He showed so much promise and potential that Ugbade, then the assistant coach of the Nigerian U17 team, took him along to the national camp.

He eventually failed to make the cut.

2. Played at Copa Coca Cola under Victor Ikpeba

His first major tournament came under another World Cup star.

Former Nigeria and Monaco striker Victor Ikpeba led a team of youngsters to the Copa Coca Cola tournament in South Africa in 2010-11, and Ndidi was one of the standout players.

"I was really impressed by him," Ikpeba told ESPN FC. "Once you see him play, you just knew he would go places."

Such was the impression he left with the former Super Eagle that Ikpeba took him to Nath Boy's, the club owned and run by Yemi Idowu.

3. Serial winner

Ndidi has enjoyed the feeling of winning many times in his short career.

Playing for MFM FC, a church side in Lagos, his Ikeja beat the Headquarters team in the final, with Ndidi standing head and shoulders above the rest.

With Nath Boys, Ndidi helped the club win the Lagos Junior League, a competition for players in secondary school, three times in a row.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/4612589_indidi2_jpeg0a829bc4dc78673220ce83f9b76d6e40

Ndidi has agreed to a five-year contract and has been earmarked as a long-term replacement for N'Golo Kante.


4. Can play multiple positions

This is no secret to those who know him in Nigeria, but Ndidi is a very versatile player who, in addition to his midfield roles, can play anywhere across the back.

With Nigeria struggling for a reliable right-back in their opening World Cup qualifier against Zambia, Ndidi was drafted to fill the role.

One match later, he was a late substitute for Chelsea's John Mikel Obi in midfield.


"He is a great player to have because you know he can play in multiple positions," Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr raved.


5. No red cards

For a midfield player with a high rate of interceptions and tackles, Ndidi has yet to pick up a red card in his playing career so far.

It is a statistic he is very proud of, and he remains keen to preserve it, even in the high intensity league that is England.


"He is a remarkably clean player who plays more with intelligence than with strength," Ikpeba said. "That's why you hardly see him get into trouble."

Leicester will certainly be hoping he can translate that to their midfield

http://www.espnfc.com.ng/club/leicester-city/375/blog/post/3020168/five-things-to-know-about-soon-to-be-leicester-city-star-wilfred-onyinye-ndidi

hi interesting question well before i give you my own opinion let me say i'm a big fan of kanu the person for the inspirational way he overcame his heart condition problem and his philanthropy. now on kanu the footballer like your friend i think he was over-rated and i will give reasons why.

first of as a striker his goal return for the super eagles was poor to say the least. 12 goals in 87 matches is pathetic reading. scoring against the likes of sudan, liberia, uzbekistan, eritrea etc. in international tournaments you will weep. 6 AFCONS plus 3 world cups not even a single goal in sight not even a half goal. now you will say but he won olympic soccer gold. yes he did and i commend him for that but i hope we all know that the olympics football competition is an underage tournament which no serious football nation will continue to boast in as a major achievement. samuel etoo also won an olympic medal but went on to shine and score for cameroon in AFCONS and world cups. kanu on the other hand when he went for senior international tournament was no where to be found. you might also argue that he won african footballer of the year na! but the question to ask is what did he do in those years to merit the awards. for the 1996 one i guess you can say the euphoria of the olympic win that gave it to him because it was definitely not his club form where he scored 13 goals in 39 appearances. the second one he won in 2000 what did he do? did he win a trophy with nigeria? NO. did he win a trophy with arsenal? NO. was he their top scorer? NO. so i'm forced to conclude that the times he won were based on mostly sentiments. you may ask how but it's not so much of a stretch if players like adebayor, mustapha hadji, el haji diouf etc who no one will say are african greats can win it then kanu's isn't suprising.

now to his club career he had good fortune to play for great clubs. when ajax won the champions league in 95 he was a bit part player scoring only one goal. plus the dutch league in the early to mid 90s was a one team league where ajax by default always before kanu and after kanu. in inter kanu was affected by the heart issue so let's ignore that one. with arsenal he started well but when he was a starter in the first eleven they didn't win anything when he dropped to the bench for bergkamp they started winning leagues and fa cups. in west brom they got relegated. portmouth too thank God he won fa cup beating cardiff city. even wigan won fa cup beating man city.

kanu is a terrific guy and a great ambassador but kanu the footballer is no where near nigerian football legends.

Kog45:
CC:thegoodjoe
Icon4
. Supernerd
. basconvanveli
. tbaba
goldfish
. Joseph1013
pls I had an argument with a friend on why Kanu Nwankwo was one of d best striker to have come out of Nigeria that w always be on my S/E xi but my friend disagreed that cannot w never make his S/E xi,citing his reasons like 87 appearances wit 12 goal,5 Afcon,3 W/C without a goal.

He said i should do my research and i did thorough research on d past and present S/E attacking players with Rasheed Yekini 58 app/37 goals,Segun Odegbami 46 app/23goals,Yakubu Aiyegbeni 57/21 goals,Obafemi Martins 41 app/18,Samson siasia 51 app/16 goals,Aghaowa 32 app/14 goals,Daniel Amokachie 44 app/13 goals,Ahmed Musa 60 app/11 goals,Osase Odewengie app 63/10 goals,Amuneke 27 app/9 goals,Victor Moses 27 app/9 goals,Emenike 37 app/9 goals,Victor Ikpeba 31 app/7 goals,Ideye 27 app/6 goals,Finidi 62 app/6 goals,Agali 12 app/5 goals,Babaginda 36 app/5 goals.

After this,i told him Kanu has more assists than any Nigeria player which he disagreed,citing Amokachie, Siasia and Finidi as d best in assists in super eagle history.

I told him look this guy won Africa footballer of d year twice,he said Ikpeba won it also,is Ikpeba rated than Okocha or Amokachie when w talk of super eagles.

Pls house what really make Kanu so special that he was so valuable to super eagle during his playing career coz i respect his talent than any other Nigeria striker.

that the tunisians were defending champions doesn't explain our lack of uncoordinated play against them if its that zambia were defending champions in 2013 got knocked out in the first round. us defending champions didn't even qualify for 2015 AFCON so we that point doesn't hold much water.

the ivorians of 2006 were not clearly superior to us. drogba was still building his reputation in world football. yaya toure wasn't yet the beast of a player he is today. solomon kalou hadn't yet agreed to play for them. comparing both squads there were areas where we clearly had superior players talent like midfield, goalkeeper, wingers. in terms of tactics pray tell what kind of tactics did we employ?yes i agree they were better than us but only organization wise.

Icon4s:
I don't completely agree about the individualism in that team. That team was very balanced and with squad depth.

You recall that quarter final battle against Tunisia who were the then defending champions?


They met a superior and star studded Ivorian Team in the semis. Our tactics failed us that day.

honestly between eguavon, siasia and amokachi they just bungled our teams chances at that AFCON. aside the USA94 squad this one was the most balanced in terms of talent and squad depth. even a hot yakubu wasn't in this squad. the main problem of our team in that tournament was that we showed too much individual play instead of a coherent team pattern. this played out in all our matches. against ghana taiwo's scorcher won us the game, zimbabwe our superior talent wore them down, against senegal martins to the rescue, against tunisia nsofor, enyeama and mother luck saw us through. when we finally met an ivory coast team just as talented as we were their superior organization trumped our individualism. that team had so much promise under the right technical crew that squad should have won that the AFCON and went on to qualify and do great things at the world cup.

Icon4s:
Look at that AFCON 2006 Team again and tell me it is not a relatively strong squad compared to what we have had in the last 10years. Forget they finished 3rd.

yeah his play back to goal was a bit of while his passing was sloppy a times but mheenn dude has got mad explosive pace. took his goal well too thunder dey for the boy left leg. funny your point about him being sent back to the bench by aguero even when he gets back to his best. iheanacho can keep posting good to great performances to make it difficult for the coach to drop him. i'm confident with the next string of games he will get his mojo back.

tbaba1234:
Kelechi did not play too well but it was a good run-out. With a few more games, he will be back to his best then Aguero will send him back to the bench.

lol nice one *oya bring that trailer load of alomo*

darknetcom:
commmme on..

party popper...

okay..ceasefire!!!...

now chief no need for that. yes i don't mind the odd subtle dig at each other but lets reduce the insults one love bro

darknetcom:
yea,yea,yea,,,we both did well...no time...its bashing time...they started it..lets have a good old schoool bashing...

south-africans are fagggs...
kenyans are natural born liars...!!!

been observing this thread for a while even contributed once. like i said before we don't need all this silly comparisons, insults or abuse. i for one am happy (with the pictures posted from both sides) with the developmental strides both nigeria and kenya has made. people we have still lots of problems to solve, challenges to overcome to waste arguing whose run down vehicle is better than the other. europe is light years ahead of us you don't see british or germans engaging themselves on whose better. asia from being a basket case years ago look at china, japan (post world war), south korea, india, pakistan, etc. back to us africans i think we should seek to collaborate more, aiding each other where we have expertise. we all need to humble ourselves not laughing over who has more poor people or more AIDS patients. the rest of the world is already doing that to us. we need to get busy improving our respective countries. God bless Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Africa!

yes lukaku has good numbers in the PREMIERSHIP! but what are his numbers in other top international competitions. his peers don't just do it in their leagues but world cups, ucl among others. even aguero and diego costa who are killing it currently in the epl the jury is still out if they are world class because they are yet to bring such form into their national teams or uefa champions league. neymar, bale, suarez, lewandowski, zlatan among have either done it for their countries or club sides in ucl or even both. a player like harry kane is very similar to lukaku. he finished in the top goal scorers charts for the past 2 seasons in the epl but has so far been miserable for tottenham in the ucl and england in euros.

goldfish80:
Of course Lukaku is a world class player and one of Premier leagues best acts from 2012 till date. Only Aguero has score more goals than him within that period.

Lukaku goal record vs Premier League strikers since 2012/13 (games in brackets)
Sergio Aguero – 71 (107)
*Romelu Lukaku – 60 (130)*
Luis Suarez – 54 (66)
Olivier Giroud – 53 (126)
Christian Benteke – 49 (113)
Wayne Rooney – 48 (111)
Robin van Persie – 48 (86)
Yaya Toure – 42 (121)
Harry Kane – 41 (74)
Daniel Sturridge – 38 (61)
Wilfried Bony – 31 (81)
Diego Costa – 31 (50)
Theo Walcott – 28 (81)

See his numbers when paired with other "world class strikers in Europe since 2012.

Cristiano Ronaldo ( 31) – 207 (192 games)
Lionel Messi (28) – 195 (189)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (34) – 137 (173)
Robert Lewandowski (27) – 133 (183)
Luis Suarez (29) – 128 (165)
Neymar (24) (since August 2012) – 104 (163)
Sergio Aguero (27) – 96 (143)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (26) – 95 (176)
Karim Benzema (28) – 91 (173)
Gareth Bale (26) – 79 (155)
×Romelu Lukaku (22) – 78 (155)*
Olivier Giroud (29) – 78 (176)
Carlos Tevez (32) – 76 (159)
Wayne Rooney (30) – 63 (146)

Amongst these players let it be noted Lukaku is the youngest and plays for an average mid table team(West brom and Everton) within the period being analysed.
Emphasis is on performance, a player doesn't have to be playing for Bayern Munich and Barcelona to be world class.

Use verifiable statistics and numbers to dispute that Lukaku isn't a worldie. Don't tell me your gutt feeling or just the opinion of a journalist posted as a link.

we are still on the iheanacho issue? truth is the boy needs playing time. if guardiola can't guarantee him that then a loan move should be arranged for him. he can not improve just sitting on the bench doing united nations observer mode. he needs to go somewhere that he will be trusted to start games on a regular. a run of games will help him iron out the kinks or mistakes in his game. i admire guardiola but not at the expense of my country man. a promising one for that matter. but guardiola na control freak sha how pesin go dey monitor your sex lives and sleeping pattern? e yen ti poju naa!

lukaku is very good but not world class. for me world class means you perform optimally over a long period in various competitions and not just a local champion. i can name so many players who scored millions of goals in EPL and other leagues but are in no way world class. sey na matt le tissear, alan shearer, jardel with porto mid 90s, yakubu , luca toni with florentina in seria a etc i wan mention. when you come take them to world cup, ucl, euro, afcon they will be found out.

yeah coach omagbemi needs to up her game tactics wise. it was just our girls sheer athleticism and superior talent that saw us through. cameroonians will be baying for blood but God pass them.

by the way ordega is bae see how she just dey catwalk her fine self when dem sub am

good morning all know it's off topic but it's really sad what happened to the brazilian club side . young men expecting great things lives cut short so tragically. God's comfort and blessing to their families and supporters. may the Lord keeps us all Amen

#forcaChapecoense

actually kenya has the largest slum city in Africa ....just saying

ProudlyKenyan:
Honestly except for larger population, larger slum cities and larger country - I don't know where Nigeria can beat Kenya. Nigeria reasoning is indicative of the quality of education there. All you resort to when faced with facts that Nigeria and Lagos GDP is clearly overstated by Nigeria Stat office is to quote two or 3 billionaire then music. Zim has billionaire Steve Majiwa - and country is now big mess! Sudan has billioniare who formerly owned Zain. Congo for long time had Africa best music. Those are not serious economic indicators. Faced with real data like number of dollar millionaire - you ran back to hide in Dangote's skirt.

Does Mexico having the richest man at one point make the rich?

Thanks Bro blessings

TheGoodJoe:

First of all, Happy Birthday our good friend. May God bless you and give you so many reasons to thank him continuously.

Better late than never. Have a lovely evening.

Guy you very funny only house girls watch nigerian movies is that why Kenyan TV stations only show naija content why can't you guys produce your own programmes to entertain your jobless housewives. Well unlike Congo when our musicians go for concerts all over Africa we shut things down. Let your wife/girlfriend hear davido is coming to Nairobi she will sell your car to buy a ticket to see him. I mentioned dangote just to let you know he's one of many nigerian business people doing great things. IT is another emerging industry which mark Zuckerberg acknowledged by coming twice to nigeria. Like I said earlier I know nigeria has a lot of improving to do which I've been man enough to acknowledge it unlike you pretending Kenya is all cool and shiitt whereas we know you have a huge poverty problem if not you guys wouldn't have Africa's biggest slums

ProudlyKenyan:
Dangote everyone knows. Perhaps only genuine business I respect out of Naija. The banks were forced to merge to create big banks. They are not doing half as what Kenya is doing. If we merged out 45 kenyans banks to 15 banks - we will create big naija like banks - but our banking industry will be poorer. There is space for small innovative banks, mobile banks, online banks and cooperative - the whole intermediation & financial value chain.

Now to entertainment. This is funny bit about Naija GDP . You said Irokotv has largest online movie. Who watch Naija movies - except house girls in kenya People are watching Netflix. No respectable kenyan can be found dead watching those witchcraft igbo movies...except bored house-girls - and certainly nobody pays for it. As for music - Congo must be largest africa economy - with all their lingala music -really nigga.

bro did you just go there? vibrant movie industry, vibrant music industry, irokotv one of africa's largest online movie portals. dangote has business enterprises in almost every region of africa bar north africa. and on and on

ProudlyKenyan:
Afrocircus. sticking to one example per sector - so we don't overwhelm our oil depend nigeria brothers.

-Media - Zuku - now has operation as far as Malawi - targetting 15 countries - Nigeria still probably watches South Africa's DSTV & GoTV like it theirs.

Amen thank you

terzurum5:
Happy BD to Sir Chrisooblog

Wish you more years of fruitful and inpiring football experience.

thank you

Geestunnar:
Happy Birthday

well i'm not for all this dicck measuring contest nigeria and kenya have areas we are both strong in and areas we could do better in. kenya has a vibrant tourist and coffee industry while nigeria's entertainment (music & movies) and telecom industry is quite massive.

i don't know much about kenya so i'll talk more on nigeria. as a country i would say we are operating at 30% capacity. huge agricultural potential but limited manufacturing capability to fully utilize it. huge mineral deposits to mine but no extractive ability and so on and so on whereas kenya i would say are operating say between 65-70% capacity. most of the earnings you guys make from tourism and coffee you plough back into the running of the country. a lot of it has not been squandered through corruption luckily for them because if they suffered similar or half levels of our corruption then i don't know how you guys would have survived. that should tell you the potential that nigeria has if after years of watton thievery we are still one of the top economies on the continent you can only imagine what our level will be once we get things right

thank you

Napoleon55:
happy birthday

thanks safarigirl but enough with the sir (i neva old like that na ) appreciate again

safarigirl:
happy birthday sir, wishing you many more years

Thanks Bro

joseph1013:
Happy birthday sir!

Thanks Chief

BascoVanVeli:
Happy Birthday boss.

thanks Doc i'll put it in my microwave

TheSuperNerd:
Happy birthdat to you Sir Chrisooblog.....

[img]http://m.popkey.co/552449/e0bg1.gif%3Fc%3Dpopkey-web%26p%3Dpopkey%26i%3Dhappybirthday-events%26l%3Ddirect%26f%3D.gif[/img]

Courtesy of Yara Yara and myself.... Wine and cake for you and everyone....

https://cdn.pcwallart.com/images/happy-birthday-cake-gif-wallpaper-1.jpg


Forgive me for not being so enthusiastic.... But Iheanacho's situation at Man City is really biting me.


But hey!!! Happy birthday all the same

i agree that training with world class players and working under a genius like Pep will improve iheanacho's game but without actual game time it may go to waste. he needs real game situations to test himself not long periods of sitting on the bench which will only stagnate his game and lead to loss of confidence. imagine coming on for few minutes to the end of a crucial match with the added pressure of performing excellently because any slight mistake back to bench. what you have been preaching would have been easier to swallow if other players were being treated the same way. nolito, sterling haven't been extraordinary as of late but they have still been getting healthy playing time.

by the way today is my birthday

TheGoodJoe:

There is big difference in working hard in training and doing well. There still comes a stage of excelling in most drills. Even some of the best do not attain that level. So, Iheanacho might impress Pep with his dedication and hard work. His improvements can also impress the coach. However, that does not mean he is performing at the level the coach wants.

Iheanacho should welcome the competition from Gabriel, Sane and whoever comes in. Rumors have it a big star might come in at the end of the season. A mega deal.

Whoever it is, Nacho needs to stick to the drills because, that is what will make him improve.

Nacho is a big City project.

true but then again they are alot nigerian boys in porto so that helps. as per the work permit issue they could just have sent him out on loan again.

tbaba1234:
It was not English... English will be easier for him than portuguese, Don't you think?

They simply could not secure a work permit for him and Porto came in with a good deal..

well one reason i think he might have found it difficult to adapt at spurs is the language. he is a northern boy who speaks hausa with barely passable english so that would have made it hard for him to bond with the other lads. to be fair to tottenham i read they got a hausa speaking teacher to tutor him in english but it seems it didn't quite work out.

komekn:
If he was at Tottenham he would have found one of the most friendly, cosmopolitan and likeable bunch of lads to get on with. I understand that it can be emotionally tough for a teenager of 18 come to a totally different environment and try to excel. But that would be more reflective of our sometimes over pampered kids in the UK not our teenagers from Nigeria.

The last time I was there the very likeable Ehiogu was the u18s coach he is now in charge of the U23's, its a great environment for a black kid. Now if he was allowed to go it simply means he didn't cut it. Josh Onuma is there and in the same age bracket and he is playing for the first team.

airmark:
Azmoun, '' iranian messi '' sodomising boathand, joining the long list comprising of oscar, hazard, messi, aguero, martinez, lewandowski etc.

[img]http:///media/11-23-2016/Irkuqz.gif[/img]

sorry i'm a day late Happy Birthday TheGreatJoe wish you many years in good health, Success and God's favour. more grease to your elbow bruv my fellow november baby .

TheGoodJoe:

Thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

Supernerd why na! Now forgiveness won't let us rest but jokes apart glad he's doing well hope he keeps it up so Rohr can call him up

TheSuperNerd:
Former Nigeria U20 Captain Scores Superb
Solo Goal For Dutch Side

https://owngoalnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image-85.jpg



Former captain of the Nigeria U20 team Abduljelil Ajagun scored a superb solo goal for Dutch side Roda JC Kerkrade who were forced to a 1-1 draw by AZ Alkmaar at their home ground, Parkstad Limburg Stadion.


Ajagun stole possession from the centre circle and embarked on a strong run straight into the
opposition half before rifling an unstoppable drive into the corner to give his team the lead.


However his team were pegged back in the 59th minute when Wout Weghorst scored the leveller for the visitors, and they hanged on for a share of the spoils.


On his part, Ajagun who moved to Roda Jc in the summer from Greek giants Panathinaikos has emerged as one of the shining light of the Dutch side this season.


So far he has made 12 appearances for the team with today’s goal his first of the season. 23 year old Ajagun captained Nigeria at the 2013 World Cup in Colombia and also represented Nigeria at the 2011 edition, shortly after playing a key role for Nigeria at the U17 World Cup in 2009.


Source: http://owngoalnigeria.com/2016/11/20/former-nigeria-u20-captain-scores-superb-solo-goal-for-dutch-side/