GERNOT Rohr has turned the Super Eagles into a shopping centre. Every new list introduces several rookies under the guise of being Nigeria-born kids. Not many of these kids get to play for the country beyond wearing the Super Eagles jerseys and granting irrelevant interviews of how they have either met their parents’ dream or theirs. The few of them who get to play cameo roles in the Eagles aren’t good enough for the next assignment(s) or disappear like ice cream left under the scorching sun with nobody having the guts to ask the coach what informed his choices. How Rohr gets away with the frequent changes is alarming. What does it say to anyone that Rohr still has a 40-man provisional list for the Africa Nations Cup despite placing third in the last edition and playing at the Russia 2018 World Cup?

It is apparent from Rohr’s list of players that there isn’t a system of vetting which means that there are no set rules for picking the players. In the past, we knew those who played for the Eagles from their weekly games for either Nigerian clubs or European clubs. No prize for guessing right that it is almost forbidden for Rohr and his employers to invite home-grown players into the Eagles. The flipside to this disturbing abnormality is the rationale behind having the league whose products are worthless. Is it not clear now why the domestic league hasn’t been able to attract corporate sponsorships?

What would the league organisers be telling the corporate entities as the ROI when talents discovered are left high and dry by those who should be marketing the league? No wonder the executive governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike has opted to use the Real Madrid FC of Spain model in Port-Harcourt to show the way other football-crazy countries organise the game to attract several sponsors – not government funding which is the tag on almost 85 percent of our local teams.

Governor Wike’s support for soccer is legendary such that Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt has players on its payroll who earn N1 million monthly. Wike also supports the state’s female soccer team, Rivers Angels. So, no one can accuse Wike of being Eurocentric, knowing him as a showstopper for excellence in the execution of projects which are dear to his hearts. Had Nigerian football administrators shown enough zeal to grow the domestic game, Wike would have provided the platform for them to excel. Without playing to the gallery or hypocritical, Wike abhors lazy people. He is a workaholic, who sees things for himself and doesn’t tolerate any form of mediocrity.

I don’t support Real Madrid but I cherish what Wike is doing in Port-Harcourt because it would serve as the benchmark for those who would want to emulate what he is doing. The facilities that I have seen are world standard which is the basis for such projects. Equally instructive is the fact that kids can go to school while still playing the game. This way, the kids’ future is guaranteed. With time this Port Harcourt model would be copied and no European coach would insult our sensitivities by inviting between 24 to 30 foreign-based players for games against soccer minors in the African continent. Yet nobody in our football administration has learned from Wike’s mission to change the narrative or see anything wrong with this blatant waste of resources.

Interestingly, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick told a team of players largely based in Nigeria shortly after a comprehensive 4-0 hammering by Mexico during a friendly in July this year that: “If you’re living in Nigeria, you’re going to a top club. Villarreal, Valencia, Lille, and all those proud footballing clubs and not to one mushroom club that you’re better off. I want to expose you, people, to the highest levels so when you’re going to a foreign club, and we won’t allow any agent to take you to countries like Cyprus, Belarus, etc., no, never we won’t allow it and I will make sure no transfer is issued on situations like that.”

The quest to help Super Eagles players get better clubs didn’t start from that faithful day in July but it has happened in the past. Speaking during an event in Lagos on March 3, 2018, Pinnick said: “People are now talking about Oghenekaro Etebo’s exploits in Las Palmas in La Liga. I called him and told him to leave his former club where he was not a regular. Today, he is playing against Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and so on. Those are the players he will play against at the World Cup.”

The new Super Eagles list has raised eyebrows in many quarters as ‘our dear’ Odion Ighalo returned to the team ahead of the in-form Taiwo Awoniyi. Rohr’s recent admittance that the Eagles are good enough for a semi-finals appearance at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold in Cameroon, should tickle his employers to ask him to take a walk if he can’t aspire to win the trophy, given the abundance of talents in the country. The Eagles as it presently is, can’t be our best in Europe.

Perhaps, if we had the culture of organising send forth ceremonial games for our retiring players, showing such carnivals at this time could prick Ighalo’s conscience to do a rethink. It isn’t the first time we are dragging players out of retirement but the effects of such ridiculous decisions have left the Super Eagles with bloodied nostrils, and the country paid dearly for it by failing woefully. Need I mention those players and what their return to the game caused our national team?

The era where young boys in our leagues or schools such as Henry Nwosu, Tarila  Okoronwanta, the late Stephen Keshi, the late Thompson Usiyen, the late goalkeeper Wilfred Agbonivbare et al played for the Eagles in spite of being members of our cadet teams are to be termed the good old days. With the dearth of rookies at the grassroots arising from the lack of vision on the part of our league organisers, it won’t be long for the Golden Eaglets squad to be populated with Nigeria-born players who can’t even recite our national anthem. You need to watch how many Super Eagles players are unable to recite the country’s anthem before games are played. Will you blame them? No.

The Azzurri of Italy was a delight to watch at the start of every match during Euro 2020. Not because of the high sense of fashion or gorgeous long hair of some of their players, their blue eyes, or the model personality of the manager Roberto Mancini. But the aggression at which they recite the national anthem – it’s with gusto and power. The Italian players line up before every match with their arms around each other and belt out the lyrics with passion and fire to sing the song. Opponents are already scared before the ball is kicked and it was no surprise that these Italian warriors won the European Championship.

The catchy lines of the song also make it stand out from the rest. Italy’s national anthem is originally titled “Il Canto degli Italiani.” It means “The Song of the Italians”. However, it is also popularly known by its first line — ‘Fratelli d’Italia’, which translates to “Brothers of Italy.”

Just before his national team debut in 2020, German-based defender, Kevin Akpoguma said during an Instagram chat with the Super Eagles official Twitter handle: “I will learn the national anthem. Firstly, I have to learn the new song I will sing for the players because every new player has to sing for the older players. But I will learn the national anthem for Friday.” Hopefully, he knows the lines now.

Alex Iwobi was another one that openly confessed that he didn’t know the national anthem just before the 2018 World Cup. He said: “I know it but I don’t know it well. When they are recording, the camera comes on you I know what to say. For the Nigerian viewers, I do know it.” It’s three years after, hopefully, he is comfortably belting out the Nigerian anthem better than singing ‘God bless the Queen.’

Let’s be serious here, singing the national anthem softly or aggressively doesn’t guarantee victories, but it shows that you understand the values of the colour you represent. Representing Nigeria means laying it all on the ground, even if it means leaving the stadium in a wheelchair. We want to see passion from our national team players. We want to see the type of tackle on opponents that would get fans cheering as loud as seeing a goal scored. Nigerians want players of the Super Eagles to be their warriors. To fight what is in front of them, not because it is his enemy but because he values what he protects behind him. So, if victory can come by singing fear into opponents – do it! Home games should be a fortress – not allow teams like the Central Africa Republic to steal a win without seeing blood mixed with sweat.

In all, we can’t dissociate the recitation of the Nigerian national anthem from the anomalies that are being fuelled by Rohr’s inclusion of players from outside the country and who have little or no knowledge of the anthem nor urge to want to learn and master it.

WHEN in 1990 some respected Nigerian soccer administrators conceptualised the Nigeria Professional League body, they were responding to the new trends in the beautiful game in other climes. These men couldn’t stomach the mediocrity associated with the Nigerian game. They wanted a departure from the tardy past to embrace the new dawn where very good players could earn a living outside the country. The wise men foresaw the future where with a new mentality to matches, the country could one day play at the senior World Cup.

The pioneers’ dreams came to pass in 1994 with Nigeria’s Super Eagles qualifying for the USA’94 World Cup using players who had been exported to Europe to hone their skills which were still lethargic as a result of obsolete facilities across the country. The elite class was structured out of the old order. Indeed, there was something to fight for while those not listed fought gamely each season to qualify into the elite cadre.

The quasi-professional league witnessed a lot of improvement except that the ownership structures didn’t quite change with most of the teams owned by the government. The few private clubs (Leventis United FC of Ibadan, Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta, New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City, Flash Flamingoes FC of Benin City, Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC of Owerri, etc) left their marks, although they were eventually emasculated by the government teams which had tremendous cash which their administrators used to corrupt the system. The thought of having four teams in Benin City didn’t excite the fans as much having only their darling team in the elite class. The private clubs’ owners soon dropped their sponsorship initiatives when they couldn’t cope with the malfeasances of the league.

The conspiracy against the privately-owned teams brought back the sharp practices of the competition leading to the dearth of new talents. These private clubs couldn’t enjoy the support of the fans in those cities where the state’ owned team operated. Leventis had to manage its relationship with the Ibadan fans. Flash Flamingoes FC went through hell playing inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin. The fans’ favourite was Bendel Insurance FC. The defunct New Nigeria Bank FC had a similar problem of acceptance. In fact, games involving these teams and their traditional local rivals threatened public peace as the security operatives had to be at their best to ensure peace before, during, and after matches. In one of such needless skirmishes, Bendel Insurance FC’s chairman, the late Major Ojo lost his life in a car crash very close to the stadium while trying to rescue the match referees from being lynched by irate fans. Gallant soldier, if you ask me. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

The rot in the league was such that we had predictable victories for home teams ably aided by the dubious calls of matches referees who most times are cajoled into taking such decisions. Who would blame the referees when their entitlements were being paid by the home side. Not forgetting the overdoes of hospitality by anxious home clubs eager to win their matches at all cost to justify the huge resources splashed on them by their owners. The administrators further bastardised the league by introducing board room points in connivance with officials in the former NFA’s league department which then was just one scruffy room compared with the digitalised offices with different units of the league having functional offices. It was that bad.

The league had difficulties in getting television sponsorships after the existing ones opted out because they were not getting commensurate returns on their investments. Urchins, beasts, hooligans, and hostile home supporters made life difficult for the fans, especially the visitors to watch matches of their choice. Unlike in Europe where fathers come to the stadium to watch matches with their families, it was risky doing so here and it affected pitching for sponsorships with the blue-chip companies.

Such hazardous settings soon affected the players’ performance with many of them opting to seek greener pastures elsewhere. This star-trek of players out of the country soon affected the quality of the league. Television coverage which serves as the biggest money-spinner for teams in Europe among other marketing windows couldn’t gain ground in Nigeria. The few who dared to cover matches lost equipment anytime there was violence in the stadium. There were always chaotic settings during matches because the fans took the laws into their hands rather than allow the referees to do their jobs according to the dictates of the rulebook.

During the trying periods of the Nigeria league, IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan (3SC) won the Cup Winners Cup in 1976. They were dethroned as champions in 1977, with the games between 3SC and eventual winners Enugu Rangers International very problematic. The second leg game had to be played on neutral ground in Kaduna, no thanks to the lunacy of the irate fans. NNB and Bendel Insurance at different years won the WAFU Cup for keeps with Bendel Insurance winning the defunct CAF Cup in1994 along with the WAFU for the third time in the same year. It must be said that 3SC won the CAF Cup in 1992, the trophy was donated by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

Many have called those victories pyrrhic because it didn’t represent how badly the league was organised. In these years there wasn’t any deliberate plan to train the coaches, officials and even educate the players about new trends in the game which is dynamic. Even the simplest of tasks in getting the elite clubs to also run youth teams which could also play league games either a day before the main teams’ or at an earlier time on the same pitch their seniors’ uses. This is how it is done in Europe. It explains the ease with which these European clubs replace their aging stars or those burdened by injuries. These youth teams help the countries having them pick players for their age-grade teams just as it provides the country’s Football Associations (FAs) data to plan the new discoveries’ future.

But in 2005, former sports minister Colonel Musa Mohammed (rtd) removed the league department from its dingy office at the Glasshouse in Abuja to stand on its own under a new nomenclature the Interim League Management Board under the leadership of the late Chief Oyuki Jackson-Obaseki. This body was taxed with the burden of creating a new template for the game to grow. Since some of the members of this body were running the clubs, they knew where the problems were and fixed them.

ILMB removed the payment of the match officials from the clubs by paying their entitlements. ILMB sought a collaboration with AIT to beam the matches live. This singular move brought the fans back to the stadium. Clubs were made to pay their debts to players before the commencement of the new season. Away teams were encouraged to record matches whose footage can be tendered as evidence in the event of disputes. ILMB’s innovations brought back the spark in the league. But with everything Nigeria, we returned to the trenches after the late Obaseki was removed from office. Obaseki, the moving train’s new ideas were bastardised, leaving the league in its worst-ever condition where nothing works.

Most of the leagues in the world have reached the tenth week, ours’ hasn’t started with the players and officials training without playing competitive games. Our continental representatives are no longer good enough to compete in the CAF Champions League, with our last hope, Rivers United dumped to the Confederations Cup which also has Enyimba FC of Aba. Two of them Akwa United of Uyo and Bayelsa United have been bundled out, no thanks to the fact that we have not commenced our league which others use to prepare their representatives.

Nigeria league is in limbo. It is in a coma awaiting another ministerial directive for it to begin like it happened last year. The organisers who have been in charge are offering laughable reasons for the delay again.

SUPER EAGLES are the biggest brand in the country to market to the corporate world. They fall over themselves chasing one form of marketing each time the team is on the threshold of history. Will you blame them? Certainly not. Firms are in business to sell their goods and services. The window of exposure Eagles give to firms is unquantifiable, especially if the team ends up performing well in the designated competition. One of such football competitions which investors strive to place their monies on is the FIFA World Cup which holds after every four years.

On Monday night, Germany on away soil beat North Macedonia 4-0 to become the first country to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. What it simply means is that Germany, under a new manager Flicks has a long period to prepare adequately for the competition through quality friendly matches which should help blend the players into one solid indivisible unit that would shock the world next year. The Germans won the trophy in 2014 and their antecedents at the Mundial are legendary.

The Germans were winners of the Confederations Cup in 2017, winning the trophy with younger players which most pundits thought would make them stronger the following year in Russia. It didn’t happen as the Germans were beaten in the Group stages. It was obvious that a fiasco awaited Germany in Russia due to the personality issues the former manager Joachim Lowe had with the big boys in the team who felt the emergence of the new boys in the 2017 Confederations Cup squad meant their exit was nigh.

It was easy for an embattled Lowe to throw up the aging stars in the build-up to the country being the first nation to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Lowe had quietly groomed their replacements such that even with his exit from the German side, his successor Flicks did the needful by continuing with the boys he met. Herein lies the difference between football nations and pretenders such as Nigeria. No country grooms her national teams using foreigners who don’t know here. Countries judge their growth in the beautiful game by the number of home-groomed players in their senior teams to the Mundial. Not the presence of Nigeria-born players like we have in the Super Eagles.

Lessons from the German transition of being World Cup winners in 2014 and Confederations Cup champions in 2017, irrespective of the team’s shambolic outing in 2018, are such that Nigeria ought to learn from if our administrators know what they are doing. Germany’s former manager Lowe knew that some of his players were aging. Rather than parade the World Cup champions in 2014 filled with fulfilled and unmotivated players for newer heights in the game at the 2017 Confederations Cup, instead, he chose younger, fitter, and much hungrier players who had the fight in them to participate in the competition. It would never happen in Nigeria because of our fixation on how the Eagles should look, even if many of them are in the throes of their exit in the squad.

In Nigeria, Lowe would have been sacked after the country’s shameful exit from the 2018 World Cup. The Germany FA left Lowe to finish his term, knowing that he had sown the seeds of growth with the new players he bloodied into the team in 2017. Since football in Germany is run on autopilot on credible and tested templates, it was easy for the German soccer chiefs to headhunt Flicks as Lowe’s replacement even though both managers’ contracts with Germany and Bayern Munich was still subsisting.

Germany has a well-oiled soccer academy with standards that must be met and adhered to. The Bundesliga can compete with other renowned football leagues in the world. The league is structured in such a way that it continually produces new talents who play for the lower cadres of all the senior teams. The Germans know when their different leagues start and when they would end unlike in Nigeria where the game’s competitions have no calendars. Of course, the German players get paid as at when due, and teams are run as a business with every club knowing what its duties are to the players across all spheres of the game. Need I mention the number of times German sides have won the UEFA Champions League diadem, a measure of how formidable and organised teams which lift the trophy are?

Besides, the German and other serious European leagues know those who should qualify to play for their different national teams unlike in Nigeria where anything goes. There should be a benchmark on which players are invited to the Super Eagles, including invitees from Europe. Any player not within the benchmark stays out, even if he is scoring in the moon in such novelty leagues. This idea of inviting 29 players from Europe for games against the Central Africa Republic (CAR) translates to a waste of funds, more so when the manager has spent almost four years on the job. What then are the manager’s technical inputs to the team if he needs such a motley crowd to beat CAR?

Rather than imbibe the tradition of fielding competent young men into the Eagles, we like fielding older ones hinging our decision on their experience in the game. How would the younger ones acquire the needed experience when they are not given the chance to play for the country? Do they acquire this experience by sitting at home? How do you invite 29 players only to play 14 of them in the game? Does it make economic sense to invite the 15 who didn’t play the last game for the next match? A coach worth his onions would invite 18 barring injuries but also pick some home-based players he has seen before the game for training purposes. A coach who has spent close to five years on the job shouldn’t be allowed to invite 29 foreign-based players to camp.

Nigeria should stop playing domestic football if we can play a two-legged competition with only one home-based player who the manager said has reached the expected level to command a first-team shirt. This is unacceptable. It is a shame that a country that won the FIFA U-17 World Cup cannot sustain a renowned football nursery. This lacuna speaks to the actual ages of players we paraded in our age grade teams in the past. If Nigeria truly had veritable nurseries to discover, nurture and expose the talents to the world, we would have been world beaters at the senior level.

Football nations globally insist on clubs in their elite leagues having good youth teams where they can spot talents who would replace aging players or injured one in their teams at short notice. These youth teams are engaged in weekly competitions like their senior sides. It is from these youth teams that their countries fill their age grade outfits. The importance of nurseries is that it provides the data bases for kids discovered who are then monitored until they attain stardom.

It translates to failure of leadership at all levels of our football if we keep relying on kids discovered in other climes to fortify the Super Eagles. It is the reason we haven’t been able to establish a playing style for all our national teams. If you watch any Cameroonian team, male or female, they play the same way. Their mentality is the same. You can say the same thing for the Senegalese and North Africans.

We have had enough experiments with the Super Eagles since the manager arrived with the players unable to beat smaller football nations resoundingly. What we hear before games from the manager are complaints about the pitches as if the other team didn’t play on the turf. The Eagles blew away a 4-0 lead against Sierra Leone in Benin. Would the manager blame the pitch? If we don’t start vetting the manager’s list, Super Eagles won’t fly as high as we would have wished in competitions. What happened to the Eagles against the Central Africa Republic in Lagos is just a marker. Nigeria deserves a better team. We can do better with a more tactical manager. Not the docile one we have now.

HE was always going to be a pain in the neck for the Red Devils, except the manager was changed. His football has developed beyond the abilities of I can do it which is Manchester United. Strikingly, the celebrations surrounding his shocking return to Old Trafford Stadium blinded the eyes of the team’s faithful. All that the fans thought would give them victory was for any Manchester United squad to line up with Cristiano Ronaldo. They have found out it is always so. The team must play well to leverage Ronaldo’s presence up front.

For a team that has been troubled by naughty stunts of a player whose only credentials was that he won the World Cup for France, the return of Ronaldo was surely the best antidote for the Red Devils to keep Paul Pogba where he rightly deserved – an average player when placed against CR7. The Red Devils are no longer talking about Pogba’s exit.

But Pogba was asked about the Juventus links after France set up the Nations League final clash with France in Turin Thursday night and he said: ”I like Torino [laughs]! ”I always speak with former Juve team-mates like [Paulo] Dybala. I’m in Manchester now, I’m under contract until June. Then let’s see. I want to complete this season at my best level, then we will see.”

The French were at the Juventus Stadium on Wednesday to train ahead of the UEFA Nations League semi-finals against Belgium and Juve fans seized the opportunity to hearken into Pogba’s ears the need for him to return to Turin. It prompted a series of messages from Juventus fans urging him to return to the club, including one which said: “Pogba constantly teases us Juventus fans, if he doesn’t arrive in the summer, I might actually cry.”

In fact, Pogba and his shylock manager have eaten the humble pie by accepting the fact that Ronaldo, the enigma was at Old Trafford. Pogba’s reluctance in staying at Old Trafford ruined the manager’s plans to fortify the squad’s midfield. The Dutch he bought from Ajax ought to have held the central midfield but Ole’s mind is stuck on Pogba with no plan B. A flexible midfield arrangement is what would free Ronaldo from his tight-marking opponents to rock the net with goals for Manchester United. Ronaldo is gifted in latching onto good passes to score goals. It didn’t start today.

One begins to wonder what goes on in the mind of Ole every time he refuses to play Donny Van de Beek or Jadon Sancho and yet goes ahead to lose a match. The thought of Sancho’s 85 million Euro signing and Van de Beek’s 35 million pound signing is not even to be discussed because both players are no ruse and far better than the arrogant Frenchman, who should have become a regular face on the bench.

I might not be wrong to assume that Ole seems to be the only individual or coach who doesn’t understand that with Van de Beek and Sancho’s dexterity and brilliance in the midfield, Ronaldo would not only repeat his glorious football feats but surpass them in flying colours. Or who else will play Ronaldo as a replacement in an important game yet feels comfortable losing to the detriment of the fans who are yearning for his sack?

Ever since Ronaldo emerged from his first stint with Manchester United as the world’s best player, he has played and distinguished himself for teams loaded to the hilt with exceptionally good players. Such teams complimented their star-loaded squad lists with renowned coaches who know their onions. The synergy between the coaches and the players was mouth-watering with the world’s expectant of the kind of feats such teams Ronaldo played for each new season. Need I waste space with Ronaldo’s career trajectory under super managers beginning with his godfather Sir Alex Ferguson, take a bow, Sir Alex.

The exit of Sir Alex brought two sides towards replacing him, with many Red Devils fans opting for a coach with the club’s DNA – preferably a former legend of the team. The other side of the coin wanted established coaches such as Van Gaal with both men quitting with ignominy despite winning laurels for the Red Devils.

Ronaldo’s resentment after the home loss to Aston Villa has raised the flag for a new manager given the calibre of players in the club, including Ronaldo. Should CR7’s body language after matches be the basis for asking Ole to go?

Now that Ronaldo is feeling out of sort with the uninspiring displays of the Red Devils, the pertinent question to ask is, who recruited him for the team? Was is it the current manager’s decision or he had to join the queue to welcome CR7’s return or walk out through the exit door?  England great Gary Linker exposed how Ronaldo rejoined the team.

“I’ll put my cards on the table,” Lineker told BBC Sport: “Ed Woodward’s a good friend of mine and he’s my neighbour. He signed Ronaldo when he was in my garden!

“It was awesome. I knew when he walked in and he was on the phone to [Ronaldo’s agent Jorge] Mendes or someone. I hope I’m not giving too much away here, but he did sign him, so… yeah!

“I’ve got a fantastic picture of him on the phone with him in the back garden, which I might share one day with his permission.”

“When you’ve got Cristiano Ronaldo, you have to build a team and structure around him, so it can work for him,” former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright said on Match of the Day.

“If you’ve got him in your team, a match-winner, and you can’t set it up for him to be playing in there, to do what he does, he’s going to walk off the pitch like that.”

New recruit from Real Madrid Raphael Varane has gotten applause for his manager’s defensive tactics.

According to L’Equipe,  Varane said: ”I’m very happy with the start of this adventure. The Premier League is a league known for its intensity. There’s a different atmosphere, a different general mentality regarding football. It’s a different approach and a different experience for me.

”I’m taking pleasure in playing, going out of my comfort zone, finding new bearing with my teammates. It’s a different way of defending and it’s super interesting for me.”

Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel is miffed at the diabolical suggestions calling for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sack insisting that celebrated football managers such as Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho ‘don’t care’ for the club’s DNA. Schmeichel wants the incumbent manager to remain and be supported than being given the boot.

”I think it’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” the Dane told ITV Sport when asked about the calls from Manchester United fans to sack Solskjaer. ”Do they want another [Louis] Van Gaal or another [Jose] Mourinho? What do they want?

”It’s been tried, bringing in the so-called big-name managers and they don’t have the same care and attention to detail in the youth and development and DNA of the club as Ole has.

”That period before him [Solskjaer], a lot of players came in and a lot of coaches left, so everything needs to be rebuilt. I hope people understand that it takes time. Remember, we finished runners-up last season, if we can do that again it will still be very good.

Barcelona’s manager Ronald Koeman is literarily a walking corpse burdened by the problems of a team deep in debts accumulated over the years. The ripple effects of such a precarious financial situation are affecting his productivity at the Nou Camp. Koeman isn’t just any coach having grown into a legend of the club based on his previous contributions as a player and once upon a time as a coach.

Koeman has matched Joan Laporta in the buck-passing game and he isn’t ready to lie on the floor for Laporta to ride on. Barcelona is stuck with Koeman knowing they would have to cough out $12 million to dispense with his services. They are resolved to staying with him until the end of the season when things would have improved a bit financially.

FOR 82 days, the world waited with bated breath watching the twists and turns in the transfer window to herald the 2021/2022 European season. Crazy figures were bandied from the first day until the last day on August 31, 2021, with the rejection of €220 million offered by Real Madrid for French World Cup winner, Mbappe. The Spanish side made two bids for the France star in August, one for around €160 million (£137m/$188m) and the latest worth €170m (£146m/$200m) plus €10m (£9m/$12m) in add-ons. Tuesday’s attempt by Real Madrid’s management is seething, preferring to blame PSG for not showing interest in a player they didn’t offer for sale, in the first instance. PSG’s management was angry with the desperation shown by real Madrid’s negotiators for Mbappe, such that they have now accepted to allow the French speedster to walk away as a free agent in June 2022 than join Real Madrid for an outrageous fee.

Will Real Madrid return during the January transfer window to get Mbappe to sign a pre-contract? Or would they look elsewhere for the striker in form, preferably Erling Haaland, that is if Borussia Dortmund would be willing to sell him? Equally instructive are these two posers for big clubs which know their onions – why would Real Madrid be so desperate to sign Mbappe for £197 million on deadline night when they could as well have waited until January 2022 to get him for free? The flipside question would be to ask PSG why they would reject the £197 million offered for Mbappe? Was it economically wise for PSG to ignore such a big offer?

This writer reckons that PSG may feel that in the coming days leading to the January transfer window, Mbappe could decide to stay. Mbappe’s change could be as a result of the team’s style of play and how they beat clubs groggy with goals. In this case, Real Madrid could be nursing the fact that Mbappe could change his mind before January 2022. Hence their insistence to raise the cash offer now that Mbappe isn’t happy with the French side’s management, especially as he accused them of trying to force him to sign against his wish. Different strokes, if you ask me. It also spells the end for one of the most hotly-debated transfer sagas of the summer. It leaves football fans drooling about the prospect of him linking up with fellow forwards Messi and Neymar this season.

This 2021/2022 window is the most incredible – not only for Mbappe but also the two big masquerades, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. With the movement of Lionel Messi from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain and Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United from Juventus, being the picks of the pack, it’s definitely going to be a season that would be talked about for a long time.

Tongues are wagging over the possibility of recouping what Manchester United spent to secure Ronaldo’s signature again, with many analysts predicting a possible £30 million windfall within 12 months. Those in this school of thought are not perturbed by Ronaldo’s age, 36. Rather, they are looking at Ronaldo’s incredible training regime which makes him the fittest athlete in the world – no hyperbole.

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The Red Devils signed Ronaldo for £19.8million but the market projections are such that speculators feel strongly that the reunion between club and player will drive huge deals in the years ahead, with a training ground sponsor top of the list. Other people in the pro-Ronaldo return to Manchester United point at the player’s incredible social media reach, which they feel could increase Red Devil’s resources, not forgetting that Manchester United has a huge financial debt. The return of Messi and Ronaldo into the dynamics of the beautiful game serves as the fillip for the European league when the chips are down at the UEFA Champions League.

Already, Ronaldo’s magical moments on Wednesday in the clash between Portugal against the Republic of Ireland served as the field to erase the world record of 109 goals in international competitions set by the iconic Iranian striker Ali Daei. Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford with the right mentality and physical fitness to wreak havoc against Newcastle next weekend in what will be recorded as his first game since his return after a decade. His knack for scoring goals is phenomenal, leaving his markers in his wake. It appears Ronaldo has changed his way of celebrating goals. No longer the exhibition of his physique with his back turned.

According to a report in the international media on Wednesday night: ” It was a typically headed effort by the Funchal-native, who rose highest in the centre of the penalty area before heading in the equalizer to draw Portugal level at 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup qualifier and delivering in yet another crucial moment; a habit across the entirety of his career.

”And Ronaldo was not done there. Just minutes later, Ronaldo headed in another in the dying seconds of stoppage time to complete his brace, netting his 111th goal for his country and bagging all three points on a night where Portugal looked destined to lose in front of the home support in Algarve.”

What a game aptly captured by the aforementioned media report, except that it didn’t present the way in which Ronaldo took off his shirt, ran wild, with his joyful mates who were unable to stop a joyous Cr7, until he had ended his race with his traditional slide towards celebrating Portuguese had to wait until the closing stages of the game to shout Eureka. It would be wrong for anyone to judge Ronaldo using games against smaller EPL teams. Ronaldo is a big-stage player. So, Liverpool, Leicester City, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, etc, watch out. The beast is back.

Are we back to the Ronaldo versus Messi comparison? Why not, if the new kids don’t accept the challenge? Ronaldo has returned to his roots as the biggest player. Ronaldo’s return is the elixir Manchester United needs to play to their strength. Now, Paul Pogba is fry in the team’s tactical plans and would buckle if he sees Ronaldo’s competitive eyes when things aren’t working? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job is the safest with Ronaldo. They were friends as teammates and listen to the same soccer godfather – the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Messi I saw playing against Riems FC in the French Ligue Un is either not fit or has lost killer instinct, the type we saw Ronaldo exhibit playing for Portugal against Ireland. He wasn’t sharp. He took his time. One thing was clear, the best of Messi would ignite the way PSG plays. Messi didn’t participate in the French side’s pre-season and would need time to settle down. One only hopes that Pochettino isn’t making Messi the direct opposite of Neymar and vice versa with the way he replaced Neymar with Messi last weekend? This plan could lead to his sack. World soccer awaits the threesome (Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe) playing regularly for PSG

Pochettino should know that Neymar dumped Barcelona because of Messi, apparently not ready to play under Messi’s shadow. However, Messi said at his unveiling that: “I know the coach Mauricio Pochettino very well. The fact that he is Argentine helped from the start, it was important in my decision making. At a family level, it will be a beautiful experience, we are in a spectacular city and we are going to enjoy it. We are relaxed and happy.”

“I have the same excitement and the same desire that I had as a child.  Messi: “My goal and my dream are to win the Champions League once more. I think Paris is the best place to do so.”

This season’s Champions League would be a blockbuster with Manchester City and PSG in the same group. The direct fixtures between both teams would shape the way the title would go, not forgetting Ronaldo and his Red devils, in the competition’s weakest group. No disrespect to the teams in the group. The bigger poser would be if Manchester United would confront PSG at any stage of the UEFA Champions League competition? That would be the day.

Would it be appropriate to call professional football players slaves? I don’t think so. It would be absolutely unfair to tag them, slaves, knowing the ripple effect of big players’ movements from club A to B. Indeed, desperate clubs go the whole hog to get such stars, including literarily breaking the banks to source for the mind-boggling cash. But my colleague at The Nation, Sunday Oguntola, our online guru thinks otherwise. I won’t blame this man. He is pained with the exit of Lionel Messi from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-German (PSG). Oguntola feels strongly that the Parisians’ deep pockets ensured that Messi joined PSG since it is the only club that can afford to pay for the Argentine’s services.

Oguntola’s inner stomach is further exposed when he contemplates the fact that Sergio Ramos and Messi are now mates at PSG, having been arch-rivals while playing for two of the toughest Spanish teams in the world – FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. It really hurt those in Oguntola’s school that Ramos could even offer Messi a place in his new home in Paris instead of the Argentine to live in a hotel, pending when he gets his house. Pain. piercing through their skins. Pity.

Oguntola likened Messi’s exit to a forced divorce insisting that it was the reason Messi cried, knowing that if he had a choice, he would have loved to play for Barcelona, not PSG. He wouldn’t be able to sit at home to watch Messi and Ramos wearing the same jersey. The talk about this scenario drove Oguntola out of his office wondering if the European leagues are now slave camps. But as the Yoruba say, soup wey sweet na money kill am.

Oguntola is one of the Barca fans who are displeased with the Catalan club for letting Messi go, though he feels strongly that PSG won’t win the trophy they want most – the UEFA Champions League. However, the story of Ronaldo joining Messi in PSG is quite intricate with each day churning out different stories of where Ronaldo would eventually end up this season. Ronaldo played for Juventus in an away 2-2 draw against Udinese, although Ronaldo’s winning goal was ruled out by the referee. The good news for Oguntola and his Barcelona friends is that they won’t live to see Ronaldo and Messi play for the same team, at least for this season.

Whereas Ronaldo has stated categorically that he would be with the Old Lady this season, rumours about Ronaldo ready to play for Manchester City cropped up on Thursday morning in the international media at a time when the story broke from Juventus camp that Ronaldo was injured.

Such a move would also have meant the tantalising prospect of Ronaldo lining up alongside Messi. But it appears to be City is making the bigger moves for the Portuguese’s signature.

A few pundits seem to agree with Oguntola over his description of players being slaves with the way some notorious agents handle their clients’ moves from club C to D, E, or F depending on how buoyant such new clubs are. A case in point is Ronaldo’s recurring move to Manchester City. Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent was in Turin for showdown talks with Juventus over Ronaldo’s future at the club, with the aim of seeking a resolution of some sort between the two parties, according to reports.

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Manchester City were rumoured to have offered Ronaldo a two-year contract worth £230,000-a-week but won’t pay Juventus a transfer fee after Pep Guardiola’s side missed out on Tottenham’s Harry Kane. Old Lady wants around £25million for the player which would allow them to find a replacement so late in the window. Ronaldo, 36, is looking for a new challenge, and his agent Jorge Mendes offered him to Manchester City last week for £25m. But on Friday afternoon, the Citizens rejected Ronaldo.

Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo wants to leave Juventus after the news broke that he had spent 40 minutes saying goodbye to his team-mates ahead of a potential move to Manchester United. Ronaldo is now a Manchester United player.

The Ronaldo joining Messi talk at PSG arose from the likely movement of Mbappe to Real Madrid, which could have provided the cash to buy Ronaldo without digging deep into the Parisians’ bank account. PSG and Real Madrid’s quest to either keep or buy Mbappe throws open a lot of moral questions which includes having the French star honouring his promise not to quit PSG for free anytime he wants to leave. PSG, being traders have asked Real Madrid to pay more than £167 million which is what they spent to purchase Mbappe, otherwise, the darting forward remains in the team to keep his promise of not leaving PSG for free, according to his contact. Of course, it is common knowledge that Mbappe’s ambition is to play for Real Madrid, even when the Parisians signed him four years ago.

What are the options available to Mbappe in this quagmire? He could sign a pre-contract with Real Madrid in January prelude to his leaving PSG for free at the end of his contract in 2022. Perhaps, it is this poser that has informed Real Madrid’s decision to submit two bids of £170 million and £185 million for the French speedster on Thursday. Sadly, both bids were rightly rejected by the Parisians. It is obvious PSG doesn’t want to sell Mbappe. It could also mean that PSG wants to sell the French World Cup winner for a world record transfer fee of over £200 million. Mbappe has until Tuesday to know his fate. But will Mbappe be a happy man at PSG, if he fails to play for Real Madrid? PSG are already in talks with Everton star Richarlison over replacing Mbappe’ as the French giants move quickly for the Toffees attacker while the France striker closes in on his sensational move to Real Madrid. We wait.

Rooting for a new league board

Qualifying for the senior World Cup from the African continent should be a piece of cake for Nigeria, given the exploits of our players in various European clubs. Granted a few of them are Nigeria-born. But the real deal would have been for the Super Eagles to be populated by home-grown players if there are incidents such as we have on our hands with the Premier League clubs and the UK government’s ‘red list’ countries.

But with a league whose kickoff date and termination date always remain a mirage, not much is expected from that mill that has been riddled with sharp practices, mayhem on the field of play, and poor facilities across the country. No coach would stake his reputation on the line handling teams with such half-bakes for whatever reason. Of course, the reason isn’t farfetched.

Otherwise, it would have been easy for the home-based lads to be tasked with the trip to Praia for the game against Cape Verde on September 7. I also don’t think the NFF would risk such a venture knowing the importance attached to qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Why is it difficult to disband the league board and set up a more functional one with people who know their onions? Perhaps, we enjoy celebrating mediocrity, which is what we have seen in the league in the last five years.