Atletico Madrid's Engine Room

Jan Oblak is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish club Atletico Madrid and the Slovenia national team. He was born on 7th January 1993 (age 27 years) in Škofja Loka, Slovenia.

He is considered by several pundits to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. His athleticsm, quick reflexes, outstanding positioning, agility, as well as his reading of the game, composure, shot-stopping abilities and ability to instill a sense of confidence in his team's back-line as garnered him a lot of praises even from opposition fans and managers.

Youth Career

Locan (1998 - 2003)

Olimpija (2003 - 2004)

Olimpija Ljubljana (2005 - 2009).

He signed for Portuguese club Benfica at the age of 17, and was part of the team that won the domestic treble in the 2013/14 season but he made only 16 appearances for the team because he had loan spells at Beira-Mar, Olhanense, Uniao de Leiria and Rio Ave all between 2010 to 2013 while being a player of Benfica.

He joined Atletico Madrid for a fee of 16 million euros in 2014 becoming La liga's most expensive goalkeeper at the time, and he is estimated to worth about 90 million euros presently.

In 2015/16 season he conceded an all time record low of 18 goals in 38 league games.

He has over 250 appearances in all competitions for the Rojiblancos and became the fastest goalkeeper to achieve 100 clean sheets - first non-Spanish goalkeeper to do so - in La Liga history in his 182nd Liga game in June, breaking an almost 50-year old record of Miguel Reina who did the same in 222 league appearances.

National team

He represented Slovenia at various age grade tournaments and made his debut for Slovenia national team in 2012 with 28 appearances till date.

Honours

Primeira Liga (2013/14)

Taca da Liga  (2013/14)

Taca de Portugal (2013/14)

UEFA Europa League runner-up  (2013/14)

Supercopa de Espana (2014)

UEFA Champions League runner-up (2015/16)

UEFA Europa League title (2017/18)

2018 UEFA Super Cup title.

Individual Honours

Primeira Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2013/14)

La Liga Zamora trophy (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

La Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

UEFA Champions League squad of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

La Liga Team of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

Slovenian Footballer of the year (2015, 2016,  2017 and 2018).

He was also nominated for the 2017 and 2018 Ballon d'Or awards.

Will Oblak eventually leave Atletico Madrid or stay with the team is a question that resonates with everyone during any transfer window.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

The modern football Pele: Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe Lottin is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and the France national team.

He is rated to be one of the best players in the world currently for he is well regarded and known for his clinical finishing, dribbling, strength and explosive speed.

Background

He was born on 20th of December, 1998

(age 21 years). His parent are Wilfred Mbappe and Fayza Mbappe who are both African but settled in France.

The father is a Cameroonian with Nigerian roots, while his mother Fayza Mbappe is an Algerian.

Mbappe is a sensational man whose mastery of skills has taken the trail of the great Brazilian Pele.

He was groomed at AS Bondy where his father managed the club, afterwards he moved to Clairefontaine academy and also had a stint with Chelsea's under 11's team.

However, he eventually settled at AS Monaco where his remarkable career was set in motion.

He was the youngest player to featured for AS Monaco at 16 years of age when he made his debut on the 2nd of December 2015 against Caen.

Astonishingly in his first full season with AS Monaco, he won Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France title in 2016/17 season.

He scored 28 goals and 12 assists in 69 games for AS Monaco.

In the summer of 2017, he became the most expensive teenage player after his loan move to PSG with a mandatory option for a full transfer fee of 180million pounds.

Since he joined PSG, he has scored 102 goals - including 19 in UEFA Champions League - in 141 games

National level

He has been a good addition to the French national team, so far in 34 games he had 13 goals.

He was wonderful at the FIFA World Cup in 2018, as he scored 2 goals and was named the 2018 FIFA World Cup Best Young player and also the 2nd yet teenager to keep a tally of two goals in the world cup amid a goal in the final after Pele had set both records .

Honours 

4 Ligue 1 titles (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20)

2 Coupe de France (2016/17 and 2019/20)

1 French Cup (2019/20)

2018 FIFA World Cup 

2016 UEFA European Under-19 championship trophy.

3-times Ligue 1 topscorer awards 

2018/19 Ligue 1 player of the year

2018 French Player of the year

The Golden Boy award at 2018 World Cup

2017 Ligue 1 Young player of the year

Can he clinch the Ballon d'Or award in future? 

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

The Chosen One

Ndubuisi Emmanuel Egbo is a Nigerian football manager based in Europe - a goalkeeper during his playing days - and the current manager of Albanian club KF Tirana.

He was born on 25th of July 1973 (age 47) in Aba, Nigeria.

Club Career

The former goalkeeper had stints with Nitel Vasco Enugu (1993), NEPA Lagos (1994 - 1995), Julius Berger (1996 - 1998), El Masry of Egypt (1998 - 2001 and 2004 - 2007), Moroka Swallows of South Africa (2001), Tirana in Albania (2001 - 2004) where he played 157 games, and Bylis Ballsh of Albania (2007 - 2011)

National Team

Egbo represented Nigerian national team in two African Cup of Nations tournaments in 2000 and 2002. He had 12 appearances for the Super Eagles between 1999 - 2002 and scored a lone goal.

Teams managed

Egbo has a Uefa Pro Licence coaching certificate.

He started as Bylis' goalkeeper trainer in 2010, and later became the coach in 2013. He led the team to the Albanian cup quarter-final in 2014 before leaving later in that summer.

He joined KF Tirana as goalkeeper trainer and assistant coach in 2014.

He has managed the team on several occasions on part time basis and whenever a new manager is employed he always serve as an assistant.

However, in 2019 he was appointed as interim manager after the successive sacking of Albanians Ardian Mena and Julian Ahmataj .

He was given a three games ultimatum and his first game in charge was a Derby against rival Partizani a team KF Tirana have not beaten in 6 years but he won 2-1 and also won the other two games to sealed the job permanent.

2019/20 Season Stats

He led the team to an astonishing 16 games unbeaten record.

Egbo is the first ever Nigerian coach to lead an European team to a league title after Tirana were crowned 2019/20 Albanian league champions and also qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

He broke Tirana's 11 years trophy drought which make it a record 25 league titles and overall Albania's most successful club.

Tirana had 69 points, six more than closest rival Kukesi (63 points).

The club was founded in August 1920 and will be celebrating its 100 years anniversary with a title.

Honours (as player)

1 Nigerian Premier League title (Julius Berger in 1996).

1 Egyptian Cup (El masry 1997/98)

At KF Tirana

1 Albanian cup (2001/02).

2 Albanian Supercup (2002 and 2003)

2 Albanian Superliga titles (2002/03 and 2003/04).

National Team

Africa Cup of Nations runners-up (2000).

Africa Cup of Nations Bronze medal (2002).

As Manager.

Bylis

Albanian cup runners-up (2012).

Tirana

Albanian Superliga title (2019/20).

Albanian Cup runners-up (2019/20).

Egbo will have made it a double but it was unfortunate that his team Tirana lost the Albanian cup final to Teuta Durres two goals to nothing.

Egbo's achievement has justified that African coaches are as good as their counterparts from any part of the world if they are given the chance to exploit their tactics.

Can he retain the title next season?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst