{"id":210991,"date":"2019-08-07T01:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T00:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=210991"},"modified":"2025-03-14T16:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:00:14","slug":"huge-season-in-la-liga-for-nigeria-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=210991","title":{"rendered":"Huge season in La Liga for Nigeria duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Europe\u2019s major footballing leagues gearing up for the 2019\/20 season \u2013 some of which have already started \u2013 the next few months will be a crucial period for two of Nigeria\u2019s brightest stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze, their performances in Spain will be closely scrutinised by all Nigerian football fans \u2013 and it is still uncertain what opportunities await this duo in La Liga this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon is probably the more\u00a0settled of the two, as he embarks on a second season with Levante.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Valencia-based club avoided relegation from Spain\u2019s leading division last season, finishing 15th in the table and seven points clear of the dreaded drop zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 24-year-old striker played 24 first-team matches for Levante during 2018\/19 and is viewed as a long-term prospect at the club, having joined\u00a0on a five-year deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s international career is also on an upslope having played in five of Nigeria\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations matches during the summer \u2013 including the country\u2019s narrow 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the third-place play-off match.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“Nigeria fans”\u00a0(CC BY 2.0)\u00a0by\u00a0manbeastextraordinaire<\/span><\/p>\n

This made up, in some part, for his disappointment the previous year when he was named in Nigeria\u2019s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 World Cup Finals\u00a0in Russia. However, injury meant he was unable to make the final 23.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s chances of collecting silverware with Levante this season is highly unlikely and, according to La Liga betting, the club are currently 2,500\/1 with bet365 to lift the title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again their main target will be to finish inside the top 17, so escaping relegation to tier two.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around 40 miles north of Valencia is Villarreal, where Chukwueze is also embarking on a second campaign in La Liga.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 20-year-old winger enjoyed a successful debut campaign in 2018\/19, having completed a promising season for the club\u2019s \u2018B\u2019 team in the Spanish Third Division.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chukwueze netted eight times for Villarreal in all competitions, including one in a 2-0 Europa League victory over Spartak Moscow in December.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“Nigeria in Action” (CC BY 2.0)\u00a0by\u00a0John Pavelka<\/span><\/p>\n

He also scored the opener in their memorable 4-4 draw with Barcelona during\u00a0April, when the Catalan giants rescued a point thanks to last-minute goals by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chukwueze went on to feature in six of Nigeria\u2019s seven games at the Africa Cup of Nations, scoring the opening goal of their 2-1 win over highly-fancied South Africa in their quarter-final encounter in Cairo.<\/span><\/p>\n

He had made his debut for Nigeria\u2019s senior team on November 20th, 2018, when he was named in the starting line-up ahead of\u00a0their 0\u20130 friendly draw against Uganda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chukwueze was later selected in Nigeria\u2019s squad for the Under-20s World Cup but Villareal said he could not play in both this competition and the Africa Cup of Nations\u00a0during the same close-season period.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup”\u00a0(CC BY-ND 2.0)\u00a0by\u00a0Andrea Munich<\/span><\/p>\n

As for his chances of winning a medal this forthcoming season;\u00a0they are certainly better than Simon\u2019s but still an unlikely prospect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Villareal are ranked as the sixth-best bet for the La Liga title in 2019\/20, rated 250\/1 with bet365,\u00a0but, once again, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid head the market by quite some distance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Europe\u2019s major footballing leagues gearing up for the 2019\/20 season \u2013 some of which have already started \u2013 the next few months will be a crucial period for two of Nigeria\u2019s brightest stars. For Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze, their performances in Spain will be closely scrutinised by all Nigerian football fans \u2013 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66720,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-games","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/66720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342733,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210991\/revisions\/342733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}