Rohr gets a big cheer from his centrebacks as Omeruo renews his Chelsea contract and Ekong joins Udinese

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr received good news regarding two of his centrebacks yesterday after Kenneth Omeruo revealed that he has extended his contract with English Premier League side Chelsea ‎and William Ekong joined Serie A side Udinese.

Omeruo, 24, joined Chelsea in January 2012 as a teenager and was loaned out to Dutch Eredivisie side Ado Den Haag immediately and has since been loaned out to several other clubs across Europe. Earlier this week,  Omeruo joined Spanish La Liga side Leganes, on a season-long loan after he passed a medical with the club.

However, shortly before heading to Madrid, Omeruo confirmed his contract extension with Chelsea. Although the duration of the extension was not revealed, sources close to the player say his contract is likely to have been extended for two more years meaning he now has three more seasons to run in his deal with the Stamford Bridge outfit.

Omeruo said: "New contract, new loan move, all God. Thanks to my agent for pulling this off, to my beautiful wife, to all of you for all the prayers and support and to my family. I love you guys."

With the move to the more competitive Spanish league, Omeruo will be hoping to build on the success he achieved in Turkey last season while on loan to Kasimpasa. His form at the club enabled him to regain his spot in the Nigerian national team, where he featured for the Super Eagles at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

His international team mate and fellow centreback William Troost-Ekong, has joined Udinese from Turkish side Bursaspor for a fee in the region of €3.3m. Ekong, 25, joined Bursaspor last summer from Belgium side Gent but shortly before representing the World Cup he revealed that he will be interested in a move away from the Turkish side.

Ekong had complained about delays in the payment of salaries, a problem which is peculiar to most Turkish teams. Shortly after the World Cup in Russia, where he played in all of Nigeria’s games, he was linked with a move to French side Lille but the move did not materialise.