ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Two new foreign Euro clubs are in hot chase for Chelsea striker, Ike Ugbo, who according to reports has pledged his international future to Nigeria.
German Bundesliga club, Schalke 04 and Italian Serie A side, Sassuolo are interested in signing the former England U17 international who is eager to play for Nigeria.
Watford, Fulham and Racing Genk were previously mentioned as possible destinations for Ugbo.
The 22-year-old had his best season as a professional in 2020-2021 by registering seventeen goals in 34 games across all competitions for Cercle Brugge.
Ugbo joined Chelsea fourteen years ago and will enter the final twelve months of his contract with the Stamford Bridge outfit in July.
Prior to his move to Cercle Brugge on loan, he spent time on a temporary basis at Barnsley, MK Dons, Scunthorpe United and Roda JC, where he had a productive season with 13 goals from 29 appearances.
The Football Association of Wales and Irish Football Association have given the green light to Ugbo to represent Nigeria at international level, while the English Football Association and Scottish FA have not yet responded to a letter from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in that regard.
Meanwhile, Sparta Rotterdam youngster, Maduka Okoye has reached his highest market value amid speculation linking him with a possible move to Ajax Amsterdam in the summer transfer window.
The former Fortuna Düsseldorf glovesman has seen his stock rise thanks to his exploits in the Dutch Eredivisie, keeping ten clean sheets in 28 appearances in the division.
Okoye is now valued at nine hundred thousand euros following the latest update by Transfermarkt on Wednesday, May 19, an increase of 150 thousand euros as he was rated at €0.75m on March 9.
The 21-year-old is the most expensive Nigerian goalkeeper ahead of Super Eagles rivals Daniel Akpeyi (€0.6m) and Francis Uzoho (€0.5m).
Okoye is the second most valuable Sparta Rotterdam player; ranks number 166 when it comes to footballers plying their trade in the Eredivisie, ranks 387th among all the goalkeepers in the world and 61st among all Nigerian players.
He is in contention to make his sixth start for the Super Eagles when they tackle Cameroon in an international friendly in Austria on June 4, having been included in the provisional squad list announced by NFF last week.