Sports
How is the Nigerian striker taking the EPL by storm?
Watford player Emmanuel Dennis moved to England from Germany’s Cologne last season, reports site Beton.ng. The Nigerian has shown a high level of play and is his team’s top scorer. True, Watford are not very confident in the English league. In a recent match this team lost to Man City with a score of 1:5. The experts of bookmaker Melbet NG gave a low odds of 1.25 to win Man City. It is clear that Man City was considered the favorite, but Melbet bookmaker didn’t believe that Dennis’ team would be able to compete and fight for at least a draw.
As for Emmanuel Dennis himself, he has 10 goals and 6 assists in thirty-one matches in the English championship. His partner is Moussa Sissoko. Previously he was a midfielder for Tottenham, but in the summer he became a player for Watford. The 31-year-old Frenchman signed a two-year contract with Watford. At this team, Sissoko performs under number 19 on the back.
Watford is fighting for survival in the English championship and planned to strengthen the team’s defense this winter. Watford made an attempt during the winter transfer window to acquire Manchester United defender Phil Jones. The team’s head coach Roy Hodgson is a big fan of the English footballer’s game, but the club failed to make a deal, Football Insider reports.
In early January, Jones took part in the English Premier League’s 21st round match against Wolverhampton. Before that, his last game for the club was the 1/16 final match of the FA Cup with Tranmere Rovers (6-0), which took place in September 2020. The reason for the long absence of the defender was a severe knee injury. According to the Transfermarkt portal, the cost of the defender is € 4 million. Phil Jones’ contract with MJ expires in 2023.
Watford have instead signed defender Hassan Kamara from club Nice. The 27-year-old has signed a contract with the APL club until June 2025. Kamara has experience of playing for the national team of Cote d’Ivoire. He has played more than 50 matches for Nice in all competitions.
Also Watford tried to buy another Manchester United player. It is about goalkeeper Dean Henderson. Hodgson’s club wanted to sign the player before the transfer window closed, but the Mancunians blocked the transfer. Henderson has played only 2 matches for United in all competitions this season.
Watford also had attempts to buy the Liverpool player. Perhaps the club will try to make this transfer in the summer. We are talking about Liverpool defender Nathaniel Phillips, who is in the sphere of interest of Watford. The English player is expected to leave Anfield in the winter transfer window, with Liverpool asking €14 million for Phillips, Football Insider reports.
Phillips, 24, has been in the English club’s structure since 2016, transferring from Bolton. This season, the English defender has spent 224 minutes on the field in four games in all tournaments. Phillips’ contract expires in 2025, Transfermarkt values the player at €8 million.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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