Oliech Could Be Headed To The Prem

News reaching this blog indicates that ex-Kamu High protégé Dennis Oliech just might be headed to the English Premiership. According to Oliech’s agent, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, the 20 year old striker could be making a move across the channel to England’s biggest sports league once the January transfer window opens. Thouvenel did not divulge information as to which English premiership clubs may want the striker, but sources close to the striker confirm to us that Sheffield United could be the team that might be getting his signature.

Sheffield United recently armed manager Neil Warnock’s war chest with US$ 9.75m (KShs. 682.5m) for the January transfer window and he’s already admitted that he’s looking for two foreign stars to bolster his attack. In addition, Sheffield United have made eight players available for transfer in January, and a further available for loan. These include Ade Akinbiyi, Paul Ifill, Steve Kabba, Li Tie, Geoff Horsfield, Chris Lucketti, Alan Wright, Neil Shipperley and David Unsworth. This should bring in some more funds for the club and create openings for 1 or 2 strikers. Already, Neil Warnock has expressed his desire to bring in some real quality this month, and has his mind set on a striker and a creative midfielder. Speaking to the Sheffield Star, Warnock said, “Because we've been doing well I'm now looking to bring in one or two players of real quality. Definitely a striker and probably a creative midfielder as well.' Although Warnock has admitted to looking abroad for this new talent, he has also emphasised the need to keep the balance right in the squad. He further added, “I'd like to strike a happy medium between English and overseas players, but we're looking to Africa, Europe and elsewhere.” It definitely looks like Neil Warnock and Oliech’s agent Thouvenel could be sipping for a cuppa tea in the next few weeks.

Oliech’s options are still open as French clubs Sochaux and RC Lens have also expressed interested for East Africa’s most expensive player. While FC Nantes interim coach George Eo may not see much use for Oliech in his current squad, the striker scored a goal in Nantes’ 4 -0 thrashing of Toulouse in the year’s last game on December 23^rd. Seems George Eo was wrong about Oliech after all, and it might be too late for Nantes to hold on to the star striker.

High School's Hottest Honey

If Nonini had seen this chiquitta before his famous, " Gi-gi-ga-ga-ga" quote, he would have replaced those mumblings with the name Tracy Kaloki. This 18 year old teenie from Statoe recently won The Insyder's Hottest High School Honie competition, to win herself a cover on Kenya's most influential magazine (u know who we be!) and a year long contract with leading modelling agency, Real Concepts International. Get to meet this hot and sassy girl in the January 2007 issue of The Insyder out now. In this issue, she let's loose on her ambitions, boys and defending the rep of her famous high school Statoe.

Nonini Leads CHAT Awards Nominations!

Sio lazima Nonini ashinde a Fanta CHAT Award, but the controversial Genge luminary and former CHAT Award winner has bagged himself a record 8 nods at the first stage of nominations of Kenya's biggest awards event. The nomination process for this year's Fanta CHAT Awards has been changed to spice things up. Instead of the final list of 4 nominees per category released every January, this year, an initial list of 8 has been released in a nomination phase dubbed "The First Wave." This list will be whittled down to the 'usual' 4 to kick of "The Second Wave" of nominations beginning February this year. The accommmodation of a larger spectrum of nominees has indeed made the initial nomination process more exciting and at the moment, it's anybody's guess who's going to make the final four.
Nonini has been nominated in 8 categories including Teeniez Male Artist, Teeniez Video (2), Teeniez Song (2), Teeniez Hottest Collabo (2) and Teeniez Most Scandalous Celeb. Another big winners are Doobeez a.k.a. Abbas Kubaff with 5 nods including Teeniez Surprise Artist, Teeniez Hottest Collabo and Teeniez Song, and exploding onto the scene is Chiwawa with 4 nods - the highest number for a debut artist. Citizen TV also makes an impressive debut with 4 nominations including potential 'Final 4' candidates in Xtreem Music and Tahidi High.
For a complete list of the Fanta CHAT Awards First Wave nominations, grab a copy of the January 2007 issue of The Insyder magazine from your school dealer, or at a supermarket, bookstore or retail outlet near you. For all you internet junkies, get your voting vybe on at www.theinsyder.com by clicking on the 'CHAT Awards' link on the home page. You can also vote via SMS through the number 7070. For more details on how to vote, log on to The Insyder website or cop the lastest issue of Kenya's most influential magazine - u know who we be!
Don't forget to book April 14th on your calendar, coz the 6th annual CHAT Awards will be going down! Ya heard?

Bamboo Drops 2nd Mixtape Album

Hip Hop ambassador Bamboo is on the grind in the states. The 2-time CHAT Awards winner is set to drop his second mixtape album, "Rumble in the Jungle" later on in the month. This is only 3 months after unleashing his first mixtape album "Mixtape Evidence" to an unsuspecting US audience. The first album contained the underground stunner "Damu Moja" which made underground cats in the US stand up and take notice of this Kenyan rhyme protege. It is not clear whether the album will be available in area code 254, but distributors Emerge Media Group (EMG), based in Cali, USA, say that they are working on a plan to have the album available on the net. Can't wait to have our hands on that one. Check out the promo video to Bamboo's next mixtape project, exclusively on The Insyder's official blogsite...CLICK HERE