Five Nigeria National League, NNL clubs have shunned the Nigeria Football Federation order to play the NNL Super 8 playoff scheduled to commence today (Wednesday). Nigeria Football Federation had on Monday through a press release order all the eight qualified NNL teams to arrive Aba on Tuesday ahead of the NNL Super 8 playoff expected to kick off on Wednesday, 19th December 2019. As at the time of filing this report, three NNL clubs, Real Stars, Gombe, and Delta Force are in Aba the venue for the playoff while 3sc, Remo Stars, Kada, Bendel Insurance, and Kogi United have refused to honour the Super 8 playoff. NNL had proposed that two teams from each four abridge leagues (8 teams) should be promoted to participate in the 2018/19 Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL season. NFF, on the other hand, has insisted that the Super 8 playoff should hold to produce four teams that will join the existing 20 NPFL clubs for 2018/19 season.

The proprietor of Bimo Sporting Club, Chinedu Okoye opined that 2018/19 Nigerian football leagues may not start until March 2019. The retired Switzerland referee argued that since most of the team in the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL are government owned and most of the governors will be more concerned with the general elections in February 2019, then there is no possibility that the Nigerian leagues will start soon. He added that until the elections are concluded no state government will have time for the release of funds for teams to execute their matches. Okoye who made this assertion during a telephone conversation with BSN Sports correspondent in Abuja stated further that, it is not sure that the leagues will start in January as both NFF and NNL are not on the same page regarding the number of teams that will be promoted to join the existing twenty NPFL Clubs. “I am afraid the league may not commence until March next year. We all know that 2019 is an ele

Paris St-Germain  will not let  Liverpool  target Adrien Rabiot leave on a free transfer at the end of the season after he refused to extend his deal - so will look to sell the 23-year-old France midfielder in January.Tottenham  manager Mauricio Pochettino wants to be considered as a replacement for the sacked Jose Mourinho at  Manchester United , even though the Old Trafford club would have to pay Spurs £34m in compensation.  Pochettino does not have a release clause in the new five-year contract he signed in May, meaning United might have to pay as much as £40m for the Argentine. United have also targeted  Paul Mitchell  - who worked with Pochettino at Southampton and Spurs before going to RB Leipzig - to become director of football in their new management structure. If the move for Pochettino fails, United will go for Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone. France midfielder  Paul Pogba  will be fined by Manchester United after a post - which was construed by many as welc

Manchester United have named former player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as caretaker manager until the end of the season, a day after sacking Jose Mourinho. Solskjaer spent 11 seasons at Old Trafford, scoring the winning goal in the 1999 Champions League final. The 45-year-old takes over with United sixth in the Premier League. "Manchester United is in my heart and it's brilliant to be coming back in this role," said the Norwegian. "This is an opportunity I had to take. "I'm really looking forward to working with the very talented squad we have, the staff and everyone at the club." Solskjaer, who earlier this month signed a new deal as manager of Norwegian club Molde, will be joined by Mike Phelan, who returns as first-team coach having previously worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson. Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, both part of Mourinho's coaching staff, will continue to work under Solskjaer. Solskjaer's first match in charge will

Liverpool will take on German giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League last 16, while Manchester United have been drawn against Paris St-Germain. Premier League champions Manchester City and Tottenham also face Bundesliga sides, with City meeting Schalke and Spurs playing Borussia Dortmund. The first legs will take place on 12-13 and 19-20 February, with the return fixtures on 5-6 and 12-13 March. Group winners will be away from home in the first legs. Teams could not be drawn against sides from the same country in the last 16, nor against teams who they played in the group stage. Elsewhere, holders  Real Madrid  will face Dutch side  Ajax,  who have reached the knockout stages for the first time since 2005-06, while Serie A champions  Juventus  face Europa League winners  Atletico Madrid. Spanish champions  Barcelona  meet French side  Lyon,  while Italian club  Roma  face Portuguese champions  Porto. Scottish champions Celtic have been drawn to face Spanish side V

Manchester United have triggered the option of a year's extension on the contract of France forward Anthony Martial. The 23-year-old's current deal would have expired in the summer but will now run to 2020. United took a similar move with their Spain keeper David de Gea last month. Martial's representatives remain in discussions with United over a new separate deal beyond the contract that has been extended to 2020. However Martial's agent Philippe Lamboley told French TV station RMC he is "very pessimistic about a positive outcome of the discussions". "They have already sent us offers that do not meet our expectations, starting at bases very far from our wishes. We are far from an agreement for the time being," he said. United signed Martial  from Monaco for an initial £36m in 2015, making him the world's most expensive teenager in the sport.

Mourinho complained about the lack of new arrivals at Old Trafford, particularly in defence, during the summer. During his time at United, he signed 11 players for a total of £358.8m. Player (in chronological order) Position Signed from Cost Eric Bailly Centre-back Villarreal £30m Zlatan Ibrahimovic Striker Paris St-Germain Free Henrikh Mkhitaryan Midfielder Borussia Dortmund £26.3m Paul Pogba Midfielder Juventus £89m Victor Lindelof Centre-back Benfica £31m Romelu Lukaku Striker Everton £75m Nemanja Matic Midfielder Chelsea £40m Alexis Sanchez Forward Arsenal Swap involving Mkhitaryan Diogo Dalot Full-back Porto £19m Fred Midfielder Shakhtar Donetsk £47m Lee Grant Goalkeeper Stoke £1.5m Total - £358.8m

Manager Games played Won Drawn Lost Goals for Goals against Win % Jose Mourinho 144 84 32 28 243 117 58.33% Alex Ferguson 1,500 895 338 267 2,769 1,365 59.67% David Moyes 51 27 9 15 86 54 52.94% Louis van Gaal 103 54 25 24 158 98 52.43%