LaLiga club, Villarreal are willing to sell Samuel Chukwueze for the right price this summer.

The 24-year-old, who has one-year left on his contract with the Yellow Submarine, is a subject of interest from AC Milan and Real Madrid.

Villarreal chief executive officer, Roig Negueroles claimed they will consider selling Chukwueze for a good offer.

Samuel is a fantastic guy who has been with us for many years. We know that he would like to play for a bigger club and if there is an opportunity this summer we will have to sit down and discuss.

“But it will require a good offer (to sell him), he still has one year left on his contract.”

Chukwueze made 24 goal contributions for Villarreal last season.

The winger joined Villarreal from Diamond Football Academy in 2019.

Flash Back! Bendel Insurance and Enugu Rangers first battled for the national cup in 1978

It is a trilogy as Enugu Rangers and Bendel Insurance meet for the third time in the title match of the Nigeria’s national football cup, the Federation Cup in Asaba on Wednesday.

The encounter at the Stephen Keshi Stadium is akin to tie-breaker for the two legacy clubsides who had contested the 1978 title as well as that of 1981.

Bendel Insurance, rejuvenated at the 1978 final came up with a band of talented footballers who took the final stage by storm, dispatching the then heavily feared Enugu Rangers by 3-0; thanks to  

Peter Eghareva free kick and a brace by Henry Ogboe.  

But Enugu Rangers had their pound of flesh in 1981 final match after goals from Humphrey Okechukwu and Ifeanyi Onyeadika propelled the coal city boys to a  2-0 win.

For Bendel Insurance, Wednesday encounter could be a thunder and blood battle. Just two weeks ago, they had the opportunity of picking ticket to any of the two continental inter-clubs via both the NPL play-off and the Federation Cup.

In the NPL play-off they missed out in the top three finish and even ended up as the bottom runners up.

Another opportunity looms to pick the second ticket to the CAF Confederation Cup.

Event at the Stephen Keshi Stadium will decide. The pitch already looks a fertile ground for Enugu Rangers who put up one of the most dramatic comeback episodes in the competition’s history in 2018.

They came back from three goals down to dramatically beat Kano Pillars to the title via penalty shoot-out. It was their first title since 1983 when coincidentally, they won through the first ever penalty shoot-out in the final match.

Can they do it again?

Though the Koreans won in three of the finals, China’s world no. 35 Zhao Qihao claimed the ultimate gold; defeating third seeded German star to take Gold.

The final day of action at the World Table Tennis Contender Lagos served everything that had been promised and displayed since day one.

There were exhilarating displays, fantastic spins, and techniques, not the least drama and upsets.

The Doubles Final

The games served off with the women’s doubles final which saw some wonderful bat to bat battle in the first two sets as Chinese duo Fan Siqi and Liu Weishan looked like causing an upset after winning the first set 7-1. The Korean pair of Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin had different thoughts, as they came back to win three straight sets 14-12, 11-8, 11-6 to take the gold home with a deserved 3-1 win.

In the men’s doubles final, Korean duo Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon were clinical from the start, in what was an obvious win incoming, winning two straight sets 12-10, 11-4, before succumbing to Chinese duo Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng 7-11 in the third set

The Koreans roared back in the fourth set like the wounded lions they were at that point and duly delivered the knockout punch winning the set 11-8, to be crowned champions of the inaugural WTT Contender Lagos men’s doubles.

Thrilling Singles Finals

The singles finals began with the women’s singles as the Koreans made it three-peat at the inaugural WTT Contender Lagos as world no. 20 Shin Yubin showed why she was the top seed.

She fended off the challenge from China’s Li Yake, who had caused upsets along the line to get into the finals.

It was a dicey first set as the lowly rated Chinese raced into the lead, taking the first set 11-4, before the top seed Korean proved her mettle by winning three straight sets 11-9, 11-5, 11-2, lost the fifth set 8-11 but, recovered in the sixth set 11-6, to win gold.

It ended 4-2 in the women’s singles and it was was indeed a final deserving of an inaugural edition.

The grand finale of the WTT Contender Lagos ended with the prevalent scenario that had been witnessed across boards since the second day of the qualifying round.

The tournament of upsets, as many had dubbed it, brought another adrenaline rush in the men’s singles final as world no. 35 Zhou Qihao raced into a three nil 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, straight sets lead against world no. 14 German, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, in what was an incoming upset. It is the fastest ever scoreline lead in a WTT Contender.

The German and fan favorite could not recover fully from that despite winning the fourth set 11-7 in a show of strength. It was just not his day, as the Korean Zhou completed the upset by winning the fifth set 11-7, ending the game as a contest and sending the pocket of Chinese defeated players, turned fans into ecstasy.

The 4-1 win in the men’s singles final was not only Zhou Qihao but, for the Chinese contingent who had almost given all hope of winning gold on the day, after failing thrice against their ruthless Asian counterparts from Korea.

The WTT Contender Lagos, promised much fun and indeed delivered, with some shocking upsets, and world-class display from all the participants.

The only downside for the organisers and home fans would be not seeing the potentials of the players from the home front being fulfilled to a large extent, but there is still the WTT Contender Lagos to prepare for next year.

Regarding the performance of the Nigerian contingent in the tournament, Tandoh said their participation was primarily aimed at providing exposure and experience to the home players.

The Chairman of the Youth Committee of theInternational Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)Africa, Kweku Tandoh, has described the just concluded World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Lagos as highly successful.

Tandoh, who doubles as tournament planner for the Lagos event, told PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview he was satisfied with how things played out at the recently concluded seven-day event.

He, however, admitted there were one or two challenges in organising the world-class event, but he believes they were quite insignificant to rub the WTT Contender Lagos off its high ratings.

“The quality of the tournament goes to show that if we want to do something in Nigeria, we can do it, and to the best standards, international best practices.” Tandoh declared while beaming with joy.

Challenges

Discussing the challenges faced in organising a tournament as big as the WTT Contender Lagos, Tandoh acknowledged that some infrastructural and logistical challenges prevalent in developing countries compared to the more developed regions are making things a bit difficult.

He, however, expressed optimism about improving sporting infrastructure in Nigeria to facilitate the hosting of even bigger tournaments in the future.

Power Outage

Addressing a technical glitch during the final game day when there was a brief blackout, Tandoh explained that such occurrences are unpredictable and can happen anywhere, citing the recent championships held in Durban, South Africa

He stated: “It’s one of those things, you can never really tell when it comes to equipment, I’m not using this as an excuse, but even in the last championships that happened a couple of weeks ago in Durban, that kind of thing happened about three times in four days, again if the infrastructure is right, there would be no need for generators that may end up having problems. It’s just one of those things, it’s never happened in the eight or nine years we’ve been hosting events like this. We’d go back to the drawing board and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Regarding the performance of the Nigerian contingent in the tournament, Tandoh stated that their participation was primarily aimed at providing exposure and experience to the home players.

“The Federation got wildcard entries for about 20 Nigerians to come through the qualifiers, it’s not as if we expected them to come through into the main draws because we knew the kind of calibre of players they were going to play, but we felt the exposure would help them, going forward,” he explained

Tandoh also highlighted that the WTT Contender Lagos was primarily funded by the private sector, as it has been for the past eight to nine years. The Lagos State government provided financial support for this particular event.

On what to be expected next, he said, “We hope to host this Contender next year, with better infrastructures, and apart from that, I’m sure, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation would also put their events in place, but for us, we are looking forward to next year’s world Contender Lagos event again”

Ronaldo added to his many records on Tuesday in Iceland as he made his 200th national team appearance for Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 200th game for Portugal on Tuesday in Iceland with an 89th-minute winner to remain top of Group J with 12 points from four matches.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner accomplished a new entry into the Guinness Book of Records, almost 20 years to the day since he made his debut against Kazakhstan on 20 August 2003. The then 18-year-old came on for another legendary Portuguese No. 7, Luis Figo.

On Tuesday, when Ronaldo led his country out in Reykjavik, he was looking for a 123rd goal, which he accomplished in dramatic fashion as VAR needed almost three minutes to confirm the goal. Another veteran, Pepe, 40, made his 136th appearance as new manager Roberto Martinez searched for a fourth consecutive victory.

Ronaldo crashed a header against the crossbar in the 49th minute as Portugal pushed for the opening goal.

In the 82nd minute, Ronaldo was rightly booked for diving as Portugal got more desperate for a winning goal after Willum Willumsson was shown a second yellow card in the 80th minute. Four minutes from time, Ronaldo hand-balled in the Iceland box as he sought to control a floated ball. Ronaldo finally got the ball in the net in the 89th minute off a cushioned header from substitute Goncalo Inacio.

Martinez remains unbeaten in four matches as Portugal’s manager with the Selacao yet to concede in the four matches.

…now world’s 13th most expensive team

•N70bn Osimhen Nigeria’s most valuable player ever

Following the completion of the FIFA international break, the latest financial rankings released by transfermarkt revealed another upward trajectory in the Super Eagles squad market value.

The rise in the squad market value saw the three-time African champions move up two steps and now ranked the 13th most valuable international team globally, while also retaining their position in Africa as the most valuable team on the continent.

The Eagles boast players who ply their trade in Europe’s lucrative leagues, making them one of the world’s most valuable teams, with a total value of €347.40m (N261bn).

In March, they were placed 15th with a market value of €338m, but just three months later, the squad’s value witnessed an increase of €9m.

The squad value would have been higher, but the invitation of four home-based players for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone didn’t help boost the squad value.

Goalkeepers Olorunleke Ojo (Enyimba) and Victor Sochima (Rivers United0 had zero value placed on them by the football statistics website.

Rivers left-back Ebube Duru and attacking Bendel Insurance midfielder Divine Nwachukwu, who were part of the squad against the Leone Stars, also had no value in the latest update.

However, following some impressive performances by some of the Eagles players, leading to a rise in the market values, the squad’s value shot up.

As expected, the biggest of them is Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen, who according to transfermarkt, has the highest rise between the month of January and May.

His excellent form saw a massive €50m rise in his market value, moving from €70m to €120m, and is now Nigeria’s most valuable player ever.

Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman, is another player who contributed to the increase in the Eagles’ market value as he currently sits second with a market value of €30m, following his impressive debut season with the Italian club.

In-form Everton midfielder, Alex Iwobi, added €3m to his previous €25m valuation to become Eagles’ third most expensive player with a market value of €28m.

Leicester City midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi, saw yet another drop in his valuation following injury issues in recent seasons.

The 26-year-old  has seen his previous €60m market value dropped to €25m since January, the same value as Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze and Nottingham centre-forward Taiwo Awoniyi.

Kelechi Iheancho and Calvin Bassey are two other players with a drop in their market value as both players are currently valued at €18m each.

While Moses Simon’s market value remains at €9m, other players like Frank Onyeka, Joe Aribo and Sanusi Zaidu all contributed to the growth in the team’s value with a combined value of €27m.

The increase in some of the players’ value put together helped the Eagles move up to 13th place globally, while also ranking as the most valuable team on the continent.

However, the latest rankings saw a drop in Morocco team’s value.

The Atlas Lions, who are the second most valuable African team, witnessed a drop from €306.85m to €303.68m. They are now ranked 15th in the world, compared to the last ranking where they occupied the 14th position

Senegal moved up eight places to rank 17th most valuable team globally and third in Africa with a squad value of €271.30m.

Ivory Coast are fourth in Africa and 27th globally with a market value of €209.28m, while Ghana are fifth on the continent and 29th in the world.

England retain their position as the most financially valuable team in the world with a market value of €1.18bn, while European champions Italy dropped further from seventh position to eighth.

France retained their second position with a squad value of €1.15bn, while Portugal (€970.50m), Brazil (€910.50m) and Germany (€817.50m) complete the top five in the world.

World Cup winners, Argentina, dropped from fourth position to sixth.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed that Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has already agreed to a contract extension at Naples

The forward played a major role in guiding Napoli to their first Serie A title for more than three decades, contributing 26 goals and four assists in the league and clinching the top scorer award.

With the Naples-based outfit keen to build on that success during 2023/24, they naturally want to retain the services of the Nigeria international for as long as possible.

However, at a time when Osimhen has just over two years remaining on his contract, there are increasing amount of admirers who are keen on signing the 24-year-old.

Manchester United and Bayern Munich are reportedly both contemplating an approach for Osimhen.

Although Real Madrid may still be toying with an approach for the player, Los Blancos have just signed Joselu and continue to be linked with Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.

If PSG are able to generate their desired fee for Mbappe, the Ligue 1 champions would also be in the market for a new frontman, with Osimhen an obvious possibility.

On Monday, Napoli officially unveiled Rudi Garcia as their new boss, after Luciano Spalletti opted to take a sabbatical, and the topic of Osimhen’s future came up during the media briefing.

Speaking to reporters, De Laurentiis said, “We already talked to Osimhen before the Scudetto celebration, so we already have a basic agreement on a two-year extension of his contract.

“I have said for a while that Osimhen has to stay. Then, if an offer came in that I could not refuse for the good of Napoli, then we would consider it, as is only natural.”

Osimhen, who has spent three years at Napoli, has already recently acknowledged that his ‘dream’ is to play in the Premier League.

Napoli will look to recoup at least £100m for their most prized asset, a consequence of the striker costing in the region of €80m back in 2020.