Arsenal's summer transfer window is in full swing now with Granit Xhaka becoming the second senior player to depart permanently in the past week.

With Pablo Mari's £5.9million move to Serie A outfit Monza being completed last Saturday as the international transfer window officially opened, five days later brought about confirmation that the Switzerland international had completed a switch to Bayer Leverkusen thus earning the Gunners a £21.5million windfall.

As reported by football.london, more first-team players are expected to leave the Emirates Stadium between now and deadline day at the beginning of September with the club open to selling Thomas Partey, Nuno Tavares, Runar Alex Runarsson, Auston Trusty and Folarin Balogun.

Meanwhile, in terms of additions, Arsenal have agreements in place for Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber to push their spending over the £200million mark - having already completed the signing of Kai Havertz for £65million from London rivals Chelsea - and there could be one or two more following suit.

Having said that, the north London outfit have to be wary of not exceeding the limit of 17 non-homegrown players. This has previously been a problem as in the 2020/21 season Mesut Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos missed out on both Premier League and Europa League squads.

Of course, with the Gunners competing in the Champions League next season and their hopes of toppling Manchester City in the title race, they'll have to ensure they adhere to both UEFA and Premier League rules when it comes to submitting the two squads lists after the summer transfer window closes.

With regard to the Premier League, Arsenal cannot name more than 17 non-homegrown players. The departures of Mari and Xhaka means as things currently stand, Gabriel Magalhaes, Mohamed Elneny, Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira, Jorginho, Jakub Kiwior, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Leandro Trossard, Matt Turner, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Havertz, Runarsson, Cedric Soares, Nuno Tavares, Trusty, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nicolas Pepe all fall into this particular category

Over the limit by three, that number (20) will have to drop over the next couple of months - especially in order for Timber to be registered - but it would appear that Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar have the situation under control with the pair expected to oversee a number of non-homegrown player sales.

As for the Champions League, UEFA states: 'No club may have more than 25 players on List A during the season. As a minimum, eight places are reserved exclusively for "locally trained players" and no club may have more than four "association-trained players" listed in these eight places on List A. List A must specify the players who qualify as being "locally trained", as well as whether they are "club-trained" or "association-trained".

Arsenal no longer have to consider Mari and Xhaka following the double departure but because Marquinhos, despite being born after January 2002, is only eligible for List A as an overseas player due to not being at the club 'for any uninterrupted period of two years, or a total of three consecutive years' they are currently over the limit by four (21).

Once again, that number is expected to drop in the coming months when taking into consideration the players whom the Gunners are open to selling but it's important those deals are completed one way or another otherwise there will be a registration issue for Arteta to face.

[Football.London]

Everton are pushing to broker their first addition to the senior squad for more than 10 months after agreeing the double sale of two academy graduates.

The club have sanctioned the sales of striker Ellis Simms to Coventry and 17-year-old academy prospect Ishe Samuels-Smith, who will join Chelsea for around £4m.

i understands that Everton will bank an initial £3.5m for Simms in a deal that will feature staggered payments and could be worth up to £8m eventually.

The 22-year-old spent the second half of last season back at Goodison Park after Everton failed to make any additions in January and scored a memorable late equaliser at Chelsea in a crucial 2-2 draw.

But he is surplus to requirements and, in a summer where Everton know they need to sell to spend substantially, the sale could be crucial.

The Toffees are still wrestling with Financial Fair Play issues and the cost of the new stadium project, with the club in advanced talks over investment from New York-based private equity firm MSP Sports Capital.

Sources close to the deal told i that there remains “no timeline” on when that could be concluded, pointing out the “very complex” nature of the investment.

“There are a lot of moving parts in the deal and it is not just a case of pressing the button and then it’s done,” a source told i.

They added that the group remained hopeful it would be done soon, having already provided an interim loan to help stadium construction in advance of the investment deal being concluded.

Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell has made a number of enquiries and the club are hopeful of securing a first incoming deal since September 2022, having gone through the whole of January without bringing anyone in.

The club returned for pre-season training on Thursday, with former England international Dele Alli noticeably the first to return for fitness tests ahead of his latest new start.

Sean Dyche will hold talks with Alli but with Everton required to pay £10m if he plays another seven games for the club, he would need to convince the manager quickly that he was over his recent travails.

Dyche has prioritised new forward additions, putting a premium on pace and power for his new recruits, with the scouting team reluctant to take risks on players with patchy fitness records.

They have been scouring the loan and free agent market and have an active interest in Lyon’s former Celtic forward Moussa Dembele.

They are also keen on Leeds United’s Italy striker Wilfried Gnoto, although there is a reluctance to sell at Elland Road. A fee of around £40m would surely require further outgoings at Goodison Park, where Amadou Onana could also be sold to raise funds.

The Belgium midfielder has interest from Chelsea and has been linked with Newcastle United.

Meanwhile, i understands that there has been no move for Almeria forward El Bilal Toure, despite reports in Spain that a £34.3m bid has been launched for the Mali international.

Almeria managing director Mohamed El Assy name-checked Everton in an interview this week as one club who had made an offer for Toure but sources at Goodison Park say that is not correct.

[inews]

Germany lost their last warm-up game for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup at home to Zambia despite retrieving a two-goal deficit in added time.

Racheal Kundanaji’s long ball saw Barbra Banda open the scoring past Merle Frohms three minutes into the second half, with Kundanaji herself netting shortly afterwards.

Carolin Simon hit the crossbar, before Lea Schüller reduced the arrears just after the 90 minutes by heading in Simon’s corner.

Ten minutes into stoppage-time, Alexandra Popp turned in Svenja Huth’s cross to equalise, only for Banda to lob Frohms from 20 yards for a dramatic winner.

Elsewhere, Portugal defeated Ukraine 2-0 with Jessica Silva scoring both goals in the first half.

USA host Wales at 9pm UK time on Sunday 9 July, live on BBC One Wales, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

[shekicks]

According to reports, Jurgen Klopp has asked Liverpool to sign Inter Milan standout Nicolo Barella, who was pursued by Newcastle earlier this summer.

As expected, Liverpool have been busy in the transfer market already this summer. They moved quickly to sign World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for £35m.

They then turned their attention to Dominik Szoboszlai, who has joined Liverpool after the Premier League giants activated the £60m release clause in his contract at RB Leipzig.

The Reds could sign one more midfielder before the transfer window closes, with a defensive midfielder likely to be preferred by the club’s hierarchy.

Barella was involved in 19 goals across all competitions during the 2022/23 campaign and he was heavily linked with Newcastle before they signed Sandro Tonali from AC Milan.

The Italy international has also been linked with Liverpool and while it has rightly been assumed that they are no longer interested in him following the arrival of Szoboszlai, but Spanish outlet Fichajes are reporting that they are ‘seeking to add’ him to their squad following a ‘request’ by Klopp.

Inter Milan are ‘willing to sell Barella if they receive an offer of 60 million euros’ and Liverpool ‘could be willing to pay’ this amount.

It is said to be one of Klopp’s ‘great desires’ to make Barella the third and final cog of his summer rebuild in midfield.

This should be taken with a pinch of salt, as it is being widely reported by more reliable outlets that Southampton teenager Romeo Lavia is actually their main midfield target for the rest of this summer. 

Football Insider are reporting that ‘Southampton are holding out for top money for their best players as Liverpool continue to negotiate a possible deal for Lavia. They add.

‘A well-placed source has told Football Insider that midfield duo Lavia and James Ward-Prowse are “fully expected” to return to the Premier League with a move away from St Mary’s Stadium.

‘However, it is believed Liverpool are only currently willing to offer around £40million for Lavia as negotiations continue – while Southampton are believed to be holding out for a figure closer to £50million.

‘A host of other Premier League giants, including Chelsea and Arsenal, have also been linked with the 19-year-old.

‘Southampton are keen to maximise the Belgium international’s value as Man City will be entitled to 20% of any fee received for his services. That clause was negotiated as part of the reported £10.5million deal which brought Lavia to Southampton last summer.’

[football365]

Globally, success or failure in the examination is the criterion for future prospects. Too much emphasis is placed on paper qualifications without any thought of the ability of the individual to put into practice the knowledge he claimed to have acquired. 

In this respect, certificates are seen as means to an end. Thus, all means whether straight or crooked are employed to acquire them.

It has been revealed that the desperation by candidates for the high scores to enable them to study their dream courses at the university and pressure from their parents push them into falsifying their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results. The culprits who were nabbed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and confessed to falsifying their JAMB results also disclosed how examination syndicates which specialised in fake upgrade of results of candidates operated.

In the recent case, Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra, sat for the 2023 UTME and claimed to have scored 362. On July 2 this year however, JAMB, in a statement by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin accused the girl of manipulating her UTME score from 249 to 362. Miss Mmesoma and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have therefore engaged in accusations and counter-accusations over the authenticity of the candidate’s claim of scoring 362 in the 2023 UTME.

With the acclaimed 362 score, Mmesoma said she was the highest scorer in the examination as against the 360 reportedly scored by another candidate, Umeh Ukechinyere. JAMB said that based on its record, Miss Ukechinyere scored the highest mark in the 2023 UTME and not Miss Mmesoma.
In a video which has since gone viral on social media, Miss Mmesoma displayed a notification of a result slip containing the 362 score, which she claimed was generated from the JAMB portal. But the examination body has since disclaimed the document, saying it stopped using such format for result slips in 2021. Meanwhile, JAMB has announced the withdrawal of the candidate’s 249 score, and suspended her from taking the examinations for the next three years.

It’s unfair, it wasn’t my fault – Mmesoma

Explaining her role in the matter, Mmesoma said it was not her fault and that the three-year ban placed on her by JAMB was unfair. She said; “After our exams, I went to JAMB portal to get my result but it directed me to another server and that was where I printed that slip from. I did not go to any computer centre. The only SMS I sent to them was through the JAMB support system and there was no reply. After all said and done, I now saw that I got 249. Then I sent them a text message through the JAMB support system to know what really happened”.

On the three-year ban placed on her by JAMB and the withdrawal of her result, Mmesoma said; “I am sad about it because it was not my fault that I printed my result like that and they said that I forged it. It is not my fault. So, it is not fair for JAMB to ban me”.

Sources at the JAMB however said the operators of the portal from where she printed the fake result are already on the run and the security operatives are on their trail.

Why Mmesoma’s case was trending ——JAMB

Earlier, JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the examination body has nothing against Mmesoma as it has been dealing with such issues before now. He said the only reason the current incident has been trending was because Mmesoma consistently insisted that the fake result she paraded was real, despite being confronted with superior evidence of her original result.

“It is a very simple issue that if anyone looks at the document that was being paraded, you could see that there was a problem. We have a process, from registration, conduct of exam and result management. The result she paraded was last used in 2021. Even the address of the JAMB CBT centre on her slip was not complete. We send out complete addresses. Otherwise, how is a candidate supposed to locate his or her centre? We don’t have anything against this girl. The highest score is from the same Anambra and also Igbo. If you go to the internet, you will see very funny softwares on how to fake JAMB results for fun. They tag it for fun, meaning that it does not reflect in the database of JAMB. The software is JAMB fake results for fun”, Benjamin added.

I knew result Mmesoma was parading was fake——Chidoka, owner of the CBT Centre

But in what seems to be in defence of JAMB, Mr Osita Chidoka, Nigeria’s former Aviation Minister whose foundation owns the Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre where the embattled Ejikeme Mmesoma sat her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has spoken up on what he knows about the controversies surrounding the result obtained by the candidate. Mr Chidoka raised some questions that suggest that the candidate’s paraded score is fake. 

In an opinion piece he wrote, Mr Chidoka said: “Miss Nmesoma Ejikeme took her 2023 JAMB at my foundation’s Computer-Based Testing (CBT) Centre at Obosi. I got some calls from worried friends about Nmesoma’s result, which had Thomas Chidoka Center as her examination centre. I allayed their worries that the result issue had nothing to do with the examination centre.

“I observed two significant red flags when I saw her result online. First, our centre is no longer addressed as Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development on the JAMB portal since 2021. The correct name on the JAMB portal and Main Examination Slip is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development). Due to the difference in our CAC registration details, JAMB insisted we change to Nkemefuna Foundation with Thomas Chidoka in a bracket as an identifier. We implemented the name change in 2021. Her result showing Thomas Chidoka without the Nkemefuna Foundation, which was on her Main Examination slip, raised my suspicion about the genuineness of the result. The second red flag was the result template. A cursory review of some of those who took the last examination at our centre showed a different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB watermarks, and no mention of the name of the examination centre. I gave the young Nmesoma the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously not the result template that Jamb used in 2023. I knew it was fake”.

We’re considering prosecuting Mmesoma, others —JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB has said it was considering prosecuting all those who forged its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to serve as deterrent to people with intention of faking its results in future.

JAMB particularly said the issue of Mmesoma Joy Ejikeme, the Anambra schoolgirl, who scored 249 but manipulated it to 360 and one Atung Gerald from Kaduna, who never participated in the 2023 UTME but forged the result and scored himself 380, will not be swept under the carpet.

Although the board said it has concluded its investigation on Mmesoma, it said it would only act when investigations being handled by independent investigative agency it involved in the matter was released.
Spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin who said this on Friday, ruled out sole involvement of Mmesoma in the unwholesome act, noting that she may have been assisted by some dubious elements to perpetuate the act.

“Mmesoma is actually a teenager, that is our challenge now but the security agency involved in her case is profiling her. We suspect she might not be the original initiator of the act. Whoever is behind it will be exposed and prosecuted appropriately with others found involved in similar act. We found a case of one person in Kaduna State who did not obtain UTME document at all and did not write our examination but he went somewhere, forged result and scored himself 380 and he was being celebrated before we exposed him, this character will also be prosecuted, “he said.

Culprits’ confession

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) smashed a syndicate which specialized in fake upgrade of results of candidates that took the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The syndicate had opened a WhatsApp account to trick gullible candidates who wanted to increase their score in order to have undeserved advantage. Parading a kingpin and agent of the syndicate in Abuja, the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said the culprit was arrested during a courtesy call by a delegation of Public Complaints Commission (PCC).

The JAMB Registrar said the suspect named Adah Eche sat the 2019 UTME and scored 153 but decided to engage an examination syndicate to increase his scores. The suspect who doubled as a middleman for the candidates seeking higher scores collected huge sums of money from these candidates for onward transmission to the syndicate. The Board got overwhelming evidence of payments and banking transactions in connection with result upgrades during his interrogation as well as other documents. 

According to Prof Oloyede, “following the complaint by the candidate and the visit to PCC, we decided to pick his letter of complaint and two others to address their issues and he happened to be the first person we picked and he actually wrote a letter of complaint to us knowing full well that he faked his result.

What we did was to invite him to come and pick his admission letter and he came. What such people do not know is that we have a bar code for every result which helps us verify its authenticity but this fake one has the barcode of a supermarket and was reading invalid barcode on our own platform.

“We have checked our own platform and seen that he has checked his result three consecutive times via 55019 and was replied same number of times with his original result which is 153, yet he insisted that he did not know the one with 290 was fake.”

Prof. Oloyede said the suspect owned up to the crime when confronted with overwhelming evidence of his criminal acts and printout of faked 200 score for himself, before the purported upgrade to 290 which he claimed to have originated from JAMB result checker code “55019”.

Detailed investigation revealed that Mr. Adah Eche was not alone but had been patronised for possible illicit upgrade and faking of result by some candidates whose names, registration numbers were made available to us by Mr. Eche. The Board therefore withdraws and invalidates the results of the four candidates found to have been involved in the illicit attempt to fake JAMB result.

Also, on July 4 2019 JAMB apprehended one Cletus Kokowa for ‘upgrading’ his Unified Tertiary Matriculation Board (UTME) score from 162 to 206 with the aid of a fraudster. Kokowa with candidate registration number 95329290ED became the second candidate to be apprehended with the aid of an intelligence gathering mechanism deployed by the Board after Adah Eche was apprehended for a similar offence the previous month.
Kokowa confessed before the Management of the Board that he paid ten thousand naira (N10, 000) to an examination syndicate to upgrade his score after contacting them through a WhatsApp group a few weeks earlier. The syndicate had informed him that his score could be upgraded from 162 to 206. He added that the fraudsters later sent a fake result screenshot depicting the new score of 206 to him.

During investigation, he said, “those guys sent a mail to me that they could help me upgrade my score. I then sent them my registration number and email. When the results were out, they sent a screenshot of 206 which they claimed was my score. Then, one of them called me asking me to pay them their money. I later went to JAMB website to check and found my score was still 162. I was confused. I had heard that upgrading scores is impossible, an attempt to do it is an offence but I didn’t really believe it. I didn’t tell my daddy and my uncle about my dealings with the syndicate.”

However, when Kokowa’s result remained unchanged, in the JAMB portal, his father wrote a letter of complaint to the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stating, inter alia, that, “I am craving your indulgence to quickly rectify the score to place my child on good stead to secure admission in his second choice of institution because your inability to swiftly address the issue at hand has led to forfeiture of my son’s Nigerian Defence Academy admission opportunity”. The Board subsequently invited Kokowa who came with his uncle, an army officer. After investigations, he confessed to the crime and was handed over to law enforcement agents.

The Registrar said, “One of the popular claims candidates usually make is that JAMB issued two different UTME results to them. It is not true because their results were processed using cutting-edge information and communication technology tools. When this boy came with his complaint, we applied to appropriate quarters to furnish us with his records and it was discovered that he had contacted fraudsters who gave him a fake result. In fact, what we discovered was that the result given to him was a superimposition of another candidate’s result on his own”.

Son of Professor of Medicine nabbed 

Another candidate, Kingsley Unekwe, son of a Professor of Medicine in one of the leading Nigerian universities was nabbed by the Board for tampering with his UTME result. Unekwe has petitioned JAMB that he had been issued two different results and was subsequently invited to come and substantiate his claim. The Board, through its instruments and findings, was able to establish, in the presence of his mother, that Unekwe had tampered with his UTME result.

The young man thereafter confessed that he had contracted a ‘result upgrade’ syndicate to falsify his result. As a result, his original score of 201 was jerked up to 269. This he did to enable him pursue his dream of studying medicine at the university.

When asked as to why he engaged in the nefarious act, he claimed it was the pressure from his parents that he should study medicine that forced him to seek ways of falsifying his score as the original score from JAMB would not get him into medicine. Unekwe pleaded guilty, feigning ignorance of the seriousness of his crime and asked the Board to forgive him for his action.

Unekwe was the fifth candidate to be apprehended by the Board for result falsification.

How I manipulated my score —Chinedu

Chinedu Ifesinachi John, a 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidate, who had planned to study medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also confessed that the fear that he might not be offered the programme of his choice with the score he had, propelled him to alter his UTME result. On further interrogation, he stated that he used the telephone number of his sister, Chinecheremi John Ifemkpa, and saved her number as ‘55019’ a sort code used by JAMB for official communications with candidates to create profiles, check UTME results among others. He added that he simply used the number to send the edited result from his sister’s phone to his own for it to appear as if it was sent by JAMB to substantiate his allegation of multiple results.

The journey of his confession was very interesting and dramatic. The first stage started with Chinedu alleging that in 2019, his JAMB score was tampered with as well as his 2020 UTME.

Chinedu, a son of a contractor, had through his lawyer, Barrister Akaiwe Ikeazor, petitioned JAMB alleging that the Board had tampered with his 2021 UTME result while praying that he should be allowed to take the UTME again. He claimed that the Board had issued him two results: the first reading 380, while the second one was alleged to have been 265.

The Board ignored his letter knowing that he was parading a manipulated result as the Board had already identified and flagged eleven candidates including Chinedu, who had manipulated their 2021 UTME results and forwarded same to the Vice-Chancellors of their chosen institutions. However, when his lawyer wrote a second letter and threatened to press for N1billion damages, the Board then felt that it was necessary for it to do the needful.

The Board therefore invited the candidate to come forward with his lawyer and substantiate his claims. Poised to make its investigation open and transparent to all stakeholders, the Board invited the Educational Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Public Complaints Commission, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Nigeria Human Rights Commission, SERVICOM, representatives of security agencies, among others, to witness the proceedings to ensure that fairness and equity were done to all parties.

The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, after listening to Chinedu’s lawyer and father, who had accompanied him to the Board’s Headquarters, gave the duo five minutes to meet privately with Chinedu to ask him to confess his manipulation of the result and if he does not and the truth is placed before him it will be too late as he would be handed over to the police.

The second stage of the drama unfolded after the recommended meeting with Chinedu and he had remained adamant. JAMB then asked him to present his evidence as he claimed that a text message was sent to him. When he showed the message on his phone, the technical team knew the message was faked as one of the security features was absent, a signature sign, featured by other messages that emanated from the Board’s 55019.

JAMB went further by calling for the history of its communications with Chinedu from the Telco number being used by Chinedu. The details of all messages sent to him were displayed from the creation of profile for registration up to the request for the result and what was sent to him. It was at this stage that his lawyer got a rude awakening to the futility of the case. Furthermore, it was in the course of the proceedings that it came to light that Chinedu must be one of those candidates thrown up by tutorial centres and when confronted with this fact, he confessed that he belonged to a tutorial group. The modus operandi of the group was to promise candidates all kinds of scores.

It was, therefore, owing to the refusal of the candidate to own up to his crime, that the Board, through its security instruments, had proceeded to establish, in the presence of all that the message sent to Chinedu came from a phone number saved as ‘55019’ which, as he later confessed, belonged to his sister who was also a UTME candidate.

A pensive and remorseful Chinedu pleaded guilty to the crime after he was confronted with the facts of what he had done as he pleaded for clemency. Chinedu had then turned towards his father, who had vowed that his son could not do anything untoward, “I’m so sorry for putting you through this embarrassing situation.

I was afraid I’ll not get the programme I wanted and had to do this, I’ve learnt my lesson.” He said, “In 2021, I decided to leave medicine and surgery for them. So I picked petroleum engineering. When the result came it was not what I expected. To ensure that I succeeded in getting the Board to reschedule me for another examination, I used my sister’s telephone number which I had saved as 55019, type the results that bore 380 and sent it to myself.” Chinedu, who had sat the 2019, 2020 and 2021 UTME, had disclosed that he had wanted to study medicine and surgery at the University of Ibadan in 2019 and 2020.

Baffled by the confession of his client, the lawyer said, “I am shocked and very embarrassed by this boy’s attitude. I had asked him several times but he kept telling me lies. This circumstance has further enhanced my belief in the credibility of JAMB as an institution and Prof. Oloyede as an epitome of integrity. However, I plead for mercy for my client.”

According to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are not in negotiations with any club over the sale of Andrey Santos. The player has recently returned from his loan spell at Vasco da Gama and has been attracting a lot of interest.

Barcelona were among the clubs keen on securing the services of the youngster this summer. Although the Catalans were interested in Santos even during the January transfer window, Chelsea beat them to the chase and loaned the player back to Vasco da Gama until the end of last season.

With Chelsea undergoing many changes this summer, Barcelona have re-ignited their pursuit of Santos, hoping that the youngster might consider leaving Stamford Bridge in favour of a more sporting prospect in Catalonia.

The club’s new sporting director Deco is a great admirer of Santos, while Xavi Hernandez himself had given the approval for the move. Barcelona had even started negotiations to sign the youngster this summer, reports Lucas Pedrosa.

Chelsea, though, appear to have no desire to negotiate with any clubs. Their new coach Mauricio Pochettino wants to assess the 19-year-old youngster during pre-season. The club also believe he is the future of the team.

Following the departure of Sergio Busquets, Barcelona are desperate to sign a replacement this summer. Barça’s late pursuit of Santos hinted that the club are looking for alternatives to top target Oriol Romeu, who is set to cost €8 million in the market.

Given his age and the potential he has shown in his native Brazil, Andrey Santos fits the bill well. But with Chelsea unwilling to sanction an exit, Barcelona must continue to look at other options in the transfer market.

The Blaugrana have been recently linked with a move for former youth team player Gerard Gumbau, who is currently a free agent. But the Spaniard does not have much experience at the highest level, which makes him a risky target for the club.

[barcauniversal]

Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia continues to be linked with a move to a number of Premier League clubs this summer.

According to Florian Plettenberg, the 19-year-old defensive midfielder is a target for Liverpool and manager Jurgen Klopp is a big fan of the player.

However, he might face competition from Barcelona for the talented young Belgian.

Barcelona are reportedly keeping tabs on the youngster as well but they are unlikely to be able to pay the asking price. They need a quality long-term replacement for Sergio Busquets.

The midfielder is valued at £50 million and it will be interesting to see if Liverpool are willing to shell out that kind of money for him.

Liverpool have already signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer.

Although there is no doubt that Lavia is a prodigious young talent with a massive future ahead of him, £50 million does seem like a steep asking price.

Southampton will probably have to lower their demands in order for the transfer to go through.

Liverpool need to bring in a quality defensive midfielder who can compete with Fabinho for the starting spot. The Brazilian regressed massively last season and competition for places will help the squad improve.

Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State re-opened the record earlier set by late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, five years ago in the state by elevating the status of members of the Olubadan-in-Council to crown-wearing high chiefs (kings).

Saturday Vanguard recalls that the then Olubadan, late Oba Saliu Adetunji and some of his chiefs, among whom were the then Otun Olubadan (now Olubadan), Lekan Balogun; Balogun of Ibadan land, Owolabi Olakulehin and others who are also members of the Olubadan-In-Council had been engaged in a conflict.

The crisis reached its peak in August 2017 when late Governor Ajimobi, presented staffs of office to about 21 chiefs who were promoted to the status of kings.

The crises between late Oba Adetunji, and his High chiefs was put to rest when Ajimobi’s successor, Makinde withdrew their crowns as part of the condition to settle out of court.

The Court of Appeal in Ibadan had on August 23 last year, referred parties in the controversial coronation to a lower court.

Meanwhile, Governor Makinde about four months ago, sought the approval of the state House of Assembly to amend section 28 of the Oyo State Chieftaincy Law 2023 to allow traditional heads to wear beaded crowns based on the requests to the state government by the high chiefs.

The governor said his request to seek the approval of the assembly to review the chieftaincy law was in order to further improve the process.

He said the proposed amendment, when fully effective, would empower him as the sole authority without consultations with the Chiefs to grant approvals for wearing of beaded crowns.

By this move, Ibadan has one Olubadan that becomes the imperial majesty and ten senior ranking obas.
The ascension line to the Olubadan remains unchanged as the Otun and Osi lines continue in the historical path to oba.

The installation witnessed a mammoth crowd which was held at the ancient Mapo Hall, Ibadan on Friday, with the presence of traditional rulers from neighbouring Ogun and Osun States who stormed the city to rejoice with the new kings.

At the installation, Makinde said: “We are not changing the history but promoting and elevating the Ibadan traditional hierarchy. The coronation of the new Obas will not undermine the authority of the Olubadan nor alter the Olubadan succession arrangements in anyway. Our administration is rather consolidating and elevating the status of Olubadan.”

With a stiff resistance from one of the High Chiefs in the Olubadan-In-Council, Rashidi Ladoja who opposed the development, not a few residents and indigenes of Ibadan had also voiced their opposition to the re-enthronement of more obas in Ibadan, with the former Governor Ladoja challenging Makinde’s move. Makinde noted that the consenting authority is the Olubadan and not the governor.

He added that the elevation was in line with what the people of the ancient city requested.

He said, “We are here for one thing, the Olubadan of Ibadan is crowning his High Chiefs as Obas. It is not the government that is giving the High Chiefs crowns. I am not in the line. What is happening today is internal. If the royal father said there is a need for reform, me, as the governor, will support them. Out of the 11 High Chiefs we have in Ibadan, 10 of them have been crowned today. Even in a democracy, the majority will have its way while the minority will have their say and we have had them, and anyone that is not satisfied can go to Court.”