Flying Eagles captain Ikouwen Udoh is on the verge of completing a move to Isreali club Maccabi Haifa, Completesports.com reports.
Udoh, who currently plays for seven-time Nigeria Professional Football League champions Enyimba, Completesports.com learnt, has underone medical at Maccabi Haifa and the deal will be made official as soon as both clubs agree on the terms of the deal.
Tunisian giants Esperance du Sportive, and Etoile du Sahel Completesports.com gathered, are also interested in signing the defender, but they now appear to have missed out on the deal.
The left-back missed Flying Eagles’ 3-3 friendly draw with SC Freiburg U19s on Tuesday after travelling to Isreal for the medical examination.
Udo is expected to however feature in the next friendly encounter against Saudi Arabia on May 8 in Austria.
The Flying Eagles are currently in Ingolstadt, Germany for the final lap of their preparations for this month’s FIFA U -20 World Cup in Poland.
Udoh was part of Nigeria’s home-based Super Eagles side that finished second at the African Nations Championship in Morocco in 2008.
He earned his first cap with the senior team – the Super Eagles, in the 1-0 friendly win against Egypt in March.
By Adeboye Amosu
15 Comments
People that always calling for homebased to make up our SE, now that Udoh who was only yesterday a homebased but now foreign based should give way to that homebased player they want in SE. Lol. Only d reasonable will get d points. National teams needs stability.
Am I the only one wondering if we are taking the under 20 world cup seriously?
The players arrived before the coach, now the captain has been missing for days chasing a contract.
Shey they cannot focus on the task at hand and leave contract issues until after the under 20 world cup?
Another Etebor!!!!
Contract at the eve of a major tournament?
This guy sjould not lead the team.
He has no faith in their abilities.
He obviously does not they can make it to the final.
I suppose he has a low self esteem, I dont know.
Another Etebor!!!!
Contract at the eve of a major tournament?
This guy sjould not lead the team.
He has no faith in their abilities.
He obviously does not they can make it to the final.
I suppose he has a low self esteem, I dont know.
Why cant he wait and excell at the under 20 WC first?
This is just all what the clamour for homebased in our national teams is all about,sacrificing our national pride at d altar of mediocrity championed towards marketing homebased players to obscure foreign clubs. Reason Adrian Akande n Lateef Omidji were not considered, as they already registered with foreign agencies. And these self centred lots think they can coarse the fans into sitting down wasting their precious time to watch such sick teams mess up our glorious national team name, great players of old worked so hard to build. What a shame.
100%. Vicious cycle. People who continue to clamour for homebased to make up the SE are living in an alternate universe.
The idea of a ‘standing homebased’ national team is one which has never worked since when our players started their European exodus in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Most homebased players just wan 1 – 2 appearances in the national team and then they are off to north africa, finland, latvia or some back water leagues. It has always been like that even since yesteryears.
Super Eagles headcoach Gernot Rohr has said players from the Nigeria Professional Football League use the invitation to play for the national team as an avenue to make more money.
While explaining the reason behind the limited chances the local players had received thus far, the German tactician mentioned that the players only want invitation so they can move abroad.
“Since I’ve been here for two and a half years, I’ve invited more than 22 local players but all of them are now abroad. And every time we start inviting again, and everyone wants to come because it is the way to go to Europe to make money, which is normal.
“You’ve seen that we have four of them now because I invited two from U-20; the captain (Ikouwem Udoh) and the best defender (Valentine Ozornwafor). But you know each time we invite somebody (home-based player), a few weeks later, he is in Europe. So he is no more a local player.”
Gernot Rohr also called on the bodies running the league in Nigeria to improve the condition of play in the country to afford the local players similar playing level as their counterparts from Europe.
“I can tell you that it’s not easy for the local players to make it to the Super Eagles when you see the conditions.
“They have to play in old astroturf, in a championship which is playing for six or seven months. How do you want them to be fit and be able to compete with players in Europe who have the best conditions for training, playing, organization and health.
“But they need better infrastructure here. Imama Amapakabo and I agreed that he worked so many years here in the clubs. The infrastructures, the training conditions, the organization, the big transport, the high distances and all these things including the organization of the league; not playing for six months, is very difficult for the local players,” Rohr said.
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https://sportsration.com/2019/03/22/rohr-local-players-see-eagles-invitation-as-an-avenue-to-make-money/?fbclid=IwAR3uI6R0FMD5kxTJArJ3pof_bv3d6AVlAMa1rD8Vo6OQxAllms-nAnV-zKc
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Of the 23 players called up for Super Eagles games against Seychelles and Egypt this week, four players namely Ikouwem Udoh, Valentine Ozornwafor, Ndifreke Effiong, and Ikechukwu Ezenwa are from Nigerian clubs.
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simply put;
1. The National team is for the best of the best.
It is an emblem of a nation in terms of status in the game,so should only be reserved for the best,no matter where they play. As long as you are the best for the position in question, you should be in the national team; that is if the coach deems you fit for his tactics and you are willing to play.
The national team shouldn’t be anyone’s meal ticket.the national team is not a grooming ground. The national team is for the best a nation can provide.
2. And we all know,the best Nigerian players are mostly abroad,in better leagues than home.just for the fact that,they have better facilities,better management,better pay package and they play against quality oppositions week in , week out. So it is only reasonable,our best are called from there,in the first instance.if in some special cases,and we do have that;we have a player in the Nigerian league doing better in a position than the one abroad,then he can be invited; but that happens in rare occasions.
3. Besides.if a home based player is really that good,he wouldn’t be home based for long; home based players are just players bidding their time and waiting for the next opportunity to move abroad. That leads us to square one.
@Hush Bang on point. Thumbs up.
These people perpetuating this evil act on Nigeria football are so small in their brains. Their selfishness has so blinded them that they have lost every bit of progressive imagination. They can’t see beyond their nose, reason they don’t seem to understand how our football is loosing out greatly when Nigeria teams fail to do well. The little we are getting today are a by product of our national teams glorious days. Truth is good performances of our national teams at world stage will definitely open loads of opportunities, not just to our football in general but also to individual participants in football as well as other sports in general. 1)Our football will become a much sort after brand by loads of sponsors
2) Quality agents will swam our league to look out for players haven being so impressed with our national team performance and as such homebased won’t have to go through national team to go foreign.
3) Top players in other African countries will be willing to come over to our league far more than they do now.
4) Many top European Clubs will wanna partner our local clubs, just like Ajax Amsterdam n Ajax in South Africa.
5)There will be massive job employment for youth whether directly or indirectly. Ex footballers will benefit through being managers of clubs, scouts etc, as our football would have then become such massive industry.
Infact the benefits are just too numerous to mention.
We have to give kudos to CAF for developing the CHAN (Afcon for local based players only).
That, as well as the Wafu tournament (which is increasingly growing in stature – both for the Men’s and Women’s game) gives invaluable exposure for home-based national team players.
Udoh has done well for himself if indeed this story turns out to be true.
Israeli league is no stranger to Nigerian players. Several stars used it as a springboard to launch themselves to great heights.
Names that readily come to mind include: Yakubu, Enyeama, Oshaniwo, Agu, Nwakaeme to name but a few.
There is the prospect of playing in either the champions league or the Europa league which he can use as a platform to launch himself.
I know it is really too early but some of us are already looking ahead to 2021 Afcon qualifiers and 2022 world cup qualifiers (Scheduled to commence around October this year).
When these commence, Utin Udoh is definitely one of the left fullbacks that a lot will be expected of.
This young man will do well to train hard, work hard and apply himself competently.
He has the presence, he has the persona and he has the promise. But he needs to perform and do so consistently.
All eyes on him……
Watch “Ikouwem Udoh Utin – Nigeria left back against Atletico Madrid” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/282224850?ref=em-share
@Glory
thanks for the compliment.
I think most of the people clamouring for home based players to be included in the National team,do that out of emotions,and sometimes,emotions could be naive.
they always try to back up their call based on the past records,when we won the nations cup(80 and 90),with basically home based players.
forgetting at the time,the league was really good,and most of our best legs play in the Nigerian league.
time has passed,and our league has gone down the bad road,and our best legs are now abroad.so it is only logical,we get our best legs from abroad.
they try to tell us,but the South Africans,Egytians,used basically home based players in their national.
and the answer to that is simple.
if the South Africans or North Africans got good players abroad,they wouldn’t bother getting boys from Mamelodi Sundowns,orlando pirates,or Ah Ahly,Zamalek..
there is a reason why South Africa best,Percy Tau,plays abroad..and Egypt best players are all abroad,Salah,Hegazi,El Neny..
we are blessed to have good quality abroad,so we should make best use of them.it can only bring positive.the Super Eagles bar is high.and we should maintain that standard with quality.
yes.we have quality in our league.but they can’t get to their full potential till we fix the league,economically,facility wise and mentally.it is all about will…
*(80 and 94)..when we won the nations cup….
sorry for the typo
Bayern Munich star David Alaba has sensationally revealed that he was asked to pay a bribe by the Golden Eaglets coaches before making the roster for the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup.
Born in Vienna to a Filipino mother and Nigerian father, Alaba had been eligible to represent the Super Eagles before he became cap-tied to his country of birth, Austria.
The versatile defender has claimed that he trained with the Nigeria U17s which contained the likes of Lukman Haruna, Macauley Chrisantus and Rabiu Ibrahim ahead of the tournament in South Korea and impressed during the training camp.
The Golden Eaglets coaches wanted to collect money from Alaba but his mother insisted that there was no way she going to part with a single penny.
Speaking recently, the 26-year-old has labelled the Nigeria U17 coaches ‘jokers’ and has vowed not to respond to their greetings if he is approached by the coaches.
A six-time Austrian Footballer of the Year, Alaba has earned 68 caps for Austria, scoring 13 goals and represented the country at the 2016 European Championship.
See how our local coaches have been mortgaging the future of the nation. Later they will complain they are not being respected. And to think that we lost the best left wing back in the world in the last 10 years to a certain Matthew Edile who couldnt even make anything of his career either at home or in the spanish 3rd and 4th divisions in even more annoying. Yet alaba went on to debut of the Austrial NATIONAL TEAM at the age of 17….that’s like a year or two after being claimed to not be good enough for our own U17 team.