Manchester City trophy pursuits this season have taken a set-back with a ligament damage to Kevin de Bruyne which will rule him out for ten weeks. De Bryune injured his right knee and ankle during a challenge with Ramiro Funes Mori during City’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Everton on Wednesday, January 27. The 24-year-old took to his Twitter to reveal that he will be out for 10 weeks after going to see a specialist. “Just got back from the specialist. I’ll be out for around 10 weeks,” the 24-year-old wrote on Twitter. De Bruyne will miss the Capital One…
Author: David Folami
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has met Nigeria junior internationals Kelechi Nwakali and Samuel Chukwueze. The two stars are set to complete their moves to Arsenal and met Wenger yesterday at the club’s Colney Training ground alongside former Gunner and Super Eagles legend Kanu Nwankwo. In a photo shared on Instagram by Nigerian sports journalist, Colin Udoh, Kelechi Nwakali and Samuel Chukwueze are seen with Wenger, Kanu and Arsenal Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis. The duo of Nwakali and Chukwueze were impressive for the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria as they won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. Nwakali finished the tournament…
Former Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic has announced his retirement from active football. The Serbian defender recently ended his nightmare stay at Inter Milan after both parties mutually agreed for a contract termination. Vidic joined Manchester United in January 2006 where he won five Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy. He made just made just 28 appearances for Inter Milan last season before he left the Serie A giants. It was reported that he was interested in a move to the MLS but in a statement released via the United website, Vidic said: “The time has come for…
Kevin De Bruyne will not be axed from Manchester City’s Champions League squad despite being ruled out for up to 10 weeks. The Belgium international, who damaged his knee ligaments in Wednesday’s Capital One Cup victory over Everton, is set to miss both legs of the round-of-16 clash with Dynamo Kiev. And he will face a race to be fit for the quarterfinal legs in early April should City get past the Ukrainian side. Striker Kelechi Iheanacho was left out of Manuel Pellegrini’s European squad at the start of the season, and the City boss must remove a player from…
Pep Guardiola on Friday contradicted the mole in his camp by insisting the atmosphere is ‘really good’ in the Bayern Munich squad and denied there is disharmony among his players. Magazine Kicker created a storm in the German media this week by quoting an unnamed Bayern player, who claimed the squad’s spirit is ‘not good’, then leaked details after Guardiola’s demands for more professionalism. Bayern’s head coach will leave in May after three years in charge, but until then he insists he is simply doing his job. The 45-year-old wants more professionalism after several players were carrying ‘a few extra…
Liverpool’s exertions in their midweek League Cup shootout win over Stoke City mean it will be a much-changed side that faces West Ham United in this weekend’s FA Cup clash, manager Juergen Klopp said on Friday. Klopp fielded a number of young academy graduates when they beat Exeter City in a replay to come through the FA Cup’s previous round and some of those could find themselves thrown back into action at Anfield on Saturday. Liverpool played 120 minutes on Tuesday and then had to go through the nail-biting drama of a penalty shootout to beat Stoke in their semifinal,…
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed talk of a ‘quadruple’ this season as unrealistic ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup fourth round clash at Premier League rivals Aston Villa. No English club has ever won both the domestic cup competitions, the league and European Champions League in the same season but Abu Dhabi-owned City remain in the mix for all of them. They are second in the Premier League, three points adrift of unheralded leaders Leicester City, and made sure of at least one trip to Wembley after beating Everton in the League Cup semifinals. They face Dynamo Kiev…
Swansea City have signed Chievo striker Alberto Paloschi on a 3-1/2 year contract for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance, the Premier League club said on Friday. The 26-year-old Italian, who will wear the No 9 shirt, is the club’s first senior arrival in the January transfer window and will link up with his former Parma coach Francesco Guidolin. He said Guidolin was the key factor behind his move to Swansea, who are 15th in the table, four points above the drop zone. “When I received a call from my agent to tell me that Swansea were interested it…
Second-half goals by Daley Blind and Juan Mata brought relief for manager Louis van Gaal as Manchester United overcame second-tier Derby County 3-1 in the FA Cup on Friday. Van Gaal had admitted prior to the fourth-round tie that defeat at the iPro Stadium could cost him his job, having seen his side booed off following last weekend’s abject 1-0 loss to Southampton at Old Trafford. But after Wayne Rooney’s superb opener had been cancelled out by George Thorne, Blind and Mata struck in clinical fashion to take United into the last 16 and ease some of the pressure on…
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal lived to fight another day on Friday and said he would celebrate a confidence-boosting FA Cup win at Derby County with a bottle of wine provided by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. All eyes were on experienced Dutchman Van Gaal ahead of the fourth-round clash at Championship (second-tier) side Derby after mounting speculation that he faced the sack if they lost. Clinical finishes from Wayne Rooney, Daley Blind and Juan Mata and some electrifying wing play from Anthony Martial lifted the gloom, however, and a well-deserved 3-1 win kept alive United’s hopes of a first…
Baseone has waded into the beef between Vector and Ycee. The rapper has given his opinion about the beef which has seen a young upstart tackle a respected rap veteran, and he takes sides with Vector. Baseone calls for Ycee to accord respect to Vector, and abandon the beef at this early point of his career. “I think Ycee and Vector beef was not called for. I don’t really understand what really transpired with both of them…Vector is someone you have to respect Ycee, you are just starting out, so don’t think beef.” Baseone, also used the opportunity to warn…
President Buhari, in an interactive session with Nigerians living in Kenya, said he will not devalue the Naira. This was communicated to newsmen in a statement issued by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu. Shehu said Buhari explained that Nigerians had suffered enough, adding that he would not bring more hardship on the poor by devaluing the nation’s currency. ADVERTISING The statement also said Mr. President asked supporters of the devaluation, to come up with valid points to convince him. “We had just 74 of the bureaux in 2005, now they have grown to about 2,800.…
A middle-aged man suspected to be a member of the Boko Haram sect has been apprehended in Sapele , Delta, by officers of the 19 Battalion of Nigerian Army. The suspect, Bukar Abacha, was arrested shortly after he arrived the popular Hausa quarters in Sapele. A senior army officer who did not want his name mentioned, said on Thursday that a member of the Arewa community gave the information to “Operation Pulo Shield.’’ The Borno-state born suspect was, thereafter, handed over to the Army Headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation, the senior officer said. The officer said that the suspect…
According to international publication, The Economist, President Muhammadu Buhari is making the same mistakes in handling Nigeria’s economy that he made as a military ruler. The publication also criticized Buhari for failing to devalue the Naira in an article titled “Nigeria’s economy; Hope the naira falls.” Read the article below: “GIVE me lucky generals,” Napoleon is supposed to have said, preferring them to talented ones. Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, has not had much luck when it comes to the oil price. Between 1983 and 1985 he was Nigeria’s military ruler. Just before he took over, oil prices began a…
Former presidential aide, Reuben Abati has spoken out on the “freedom from decency, responsibility and conscience” which has become the order of the day on social media. Abati made the remark via an article titled “The Online Warriors.” Read full text below: My criticisms of the excesses of the online phenomenon in terms of its brazen abuse in an unregulated environment has often made me the target of attacks, with many insisting on quoting the opening paragraph of a piece I once wrote along these lines as if it is a memorial verse, but further developments have shown that indeed,…
Gov. Tanko Al-makura of Nasarawa State on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government for the provision of more basic infrastructure for the people of the state. The governor made the call when the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatude Fashola, paid him a courtesy visit in Lafia. Al-makura said the state was neglected in the area of infrastructure development in the last dispensation and required urgent attention of the government because of its proximity to the Federal Capital Territory. According to him, Lafia is the only the state capital among the 36 states of the federation that is…
Former aide to ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has offered to help President Muhammadu Buhari revive Nigeria’s economy. Okupe made the offer via his Facebook page on Sunday, January 24, 2016. He said: “The danger signal here is clear and profound. The implication of this price regime is that we begin to lose $4-$2 USD for every barrel of crude oil we produce.” “It is pertinent to state clearly here that this ominous situation is totally out of the control of the present administration.” “But because we are all stakeholders in the Nigerian project and also for the fact that…
Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has exhausted its stay in Nigeria. Aregesola made the statement on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, when Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose paid him a visit. “Osoko has said that he is not going to leave his party, but the reality today is that PDP has served its term in Nigeria. When a horse is dead, it is either you abandon it or you bury it,” the Osun governor said. “I want my good friend and brother to know that PDP has exhausted its stay in Nigeria, it can…
More reactions have trailed the letter reportedly written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the National Assembly. OBJ reportedly accused the lawmakers of greed, graft and insensitivity to the declining state of the country’s economy. According to Vanguard, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas said the former President’s letter is a distraction. His words: “We have tremendous respect for the former President. We don’t want to be distracted by letters. Probably the letter is not meant for the 8th Assembly because we have cued in with President Muhammadu Buhari. I think the letter…
International publication, The Economist has described former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan as an “ineffectual buffoon.” The publication made the statement with regards to the wanton corruption which went on under Jonathan’s regime during which “politicians and their cronies fill(ed) their pockets with impunity.” The remark was contained in an article titled “Nigeria’s economy; Crude tactics.” Read excerpts below: In the eight months since Mr Buhari arrived at Aso Rock, the presidential digs, the homicidal jihadists of Boko Haram have been pushed back into the bush along Nigeria’s borders. The government has cracked down on corruption, which had flourished under the…