Author: David Great

Manchester City are close to finalising the signing of Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic, 29, from Chelsea. (Football Insider) Inter Miami have offered Lionel Messi 50m euros per year (£42.9m) to spend four seasons in the MLS after the Argentina forward, 35, leaves Paris St-Germain this summer. (Sport) Celtic’s Australian boss Ange Postecoglou could be confirmed as Tottenham’s new manager as early as next week. (Sun) English manager Sam Allardyce, 68, will not get a new deal to stay at Leeds after failing to keep them up in his four games in charge. (Telegraph) France forward Karim Benzema, 35, will join Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad when his Real Madrid contract expires this…

Justice Maureen Esowe of the Lagos division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the Union Bank to immediately pay the total sum of N20, 261, 810 million to one of its retired staff, Asenime Claire Ojuzo. The judgment sum according to Justice Esowe, is the shortfall of gratuity Union Bank ought to pay Mrs. Asenime, upon her retirement. Justice Esowe made the order while delivering judgment in a suit marked NICN/LA/534/2017, filed by a retired officer and the bank. The claimant, a former senior manager at Union Bank, through her lawyer, Chief Paul Omoijiade, had asked the court to…

Justice A. A. Bello of the Kaduna State High Court in Kaduna State has convicted one Nnamdi Orji Innocent (aka Christian Dominic Allen) on a one-count charge over a love scam. The defendant was arrested by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC after intelligence linked him to suspicious internet fraud activities around Karji area, Kaduna State. Upon arrest, the defendant confessed to have created a Google chat account with his iPhone 11 using the identities of one Christian Dominic Allen, Hobson Lunsford and Genero Westpal in chatting with his foreign victims and received a…

Brentford have signed highly-rated Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flekken from Bundesliga side Freiburg on a four-year contract, the Premier League club said on Wednesday. Financial details were not revealed but British and German media reported Brentford paid the release clause of 13 million euros ($14.31 million) with the 29-year-old expected to replace David Raya in goal. Flekken, who has been called up for the Netherland’s Nations League finals, led the Bundesliga with 13 clean sheets in 34 matches this season as Freiburg finished fifth. “He’s a player with a lot of quality… He has big experience and joins us after two…

Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema, 35, is considering a 400m euro (£346m) two-year contract offer from Saudi Arabia. (ESPN) Arsenal have no intention of selling England forward Emile Smith Rowe, 22, this summer and hope he will return to fitness and form at the European Under-21 Championships, (Athletic – subscription) Tottenham managerial target Luis Enrique is in talks with Serie A champions Napoli but is keen to join a Premier League side. (Guardian) Tottenham and Newcastle United want Leicester City midfielder James Maddison, 26, and winger Harvey Barnes, 25, with both England internationals valued at about £40m. (Sun) Tottenham intend to take up an option to turn 23-year-old Sweden winger Dejan Kulusevski’s loan into…

Nigeria’s government can no longer afford to pay for a costly fuel subsidy as of Tuesday, the chief executive of state oil firm NNPC Ltd said, a day after new President Bola Tinubu said the subsidy would be scrapped. Removing the subsidy, which cost about $10 billion last year, was one of Tinubu’s campaign promises, but the last time a government tried to end it in 2012, it led to protests. “The reality is that from today the government can no longer afford to pay for fuel subsidies as a nation,” Mele Kyari, the NPPC chief executive told reporters after…

President Bola Tinubu has directed the Department of State Security Service (DSS) to immediately vacate the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ikoyi, Lagos. Tinubu gave the directive in a terse statement issued by his media aide, Tunde Rahman on Tuesday. The president said his action follows reports that the State Security Service officials stormed the EFCC office located on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos on Tuesday, preventing officials of the anti-graft agency from accessing their work place, was brought to his attention. We did not close the office of the EFCC, DSS claims The president said…

The Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Media Centre says Tinubu’s speech on fuel subsidy removal will not take effect immediately, noting that, the federal government intends to end the scheme by June. Fuel queues have returned to Nigeria after Tinubu stated that fuel subsidy was gone during his inauguration speech in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on May 29. Tinubu’s comments sparked immediate reaction from petrol marketers many of whom have increased the price of fuel to as high as N350/per litre. In an attempt to do some damage control, the media centre said, “The public is advised to note that President Bola Tinubu’s…

Twitter removed the verification badge of the immediate past Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Monday as part of its technicalities, findings revealed. Chronicle NG reports that according to Twitter the verification checkmark could be temporarily removed because Osinbajo’s handlers edited his profile. “To minimize confusion and promote integrity on the platform, changes to your profile photo, display name, or username (@handle) will result in a temporary loss of the blue checkmark until your account is validated as continuing to meet our requirements,” the social media platform said. Twitter automatically removes the verification checkmark if the email or…

Tottenham are determined to resist Manchester United’s attempts to sign England striker Harry Kane, 29, this summer, with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy unwilling to sell to a Premier League rival. (Mirror) Erik ten Hag is confident he can persuade Chelsea’s 24-year-old England midfielder Mason Mount to join Manchester United as part of a summer overhaul being demanded by the manager. (Telegraph) Bayern Munich are prepared to pay £95m sign West Ham and England midfielder Declan Rice, with the German side determined to beat Arsenal to the signature of the 24-year-old. (Mirror) Paris St-Germain are interested in making a shock move for Arsenal’s 24-year-old Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard. (Mail) Tottenham, Newcastle and Arsenal are among the Premier League clubs interested in Leicester’s James…