Christian Chukwu, former captain of the Super Eagles, expressed serious concerns about the current state of Nigeria’s national football team, stating that there is currently no effective national team. He highlighted that the lack of opportunities for local players to develop is a major issue.
Chukwu emphasized the importance of the team’s coach, Jose Peseiro, being based in the country. He suggested that this would enable the coach to identify and train local talents, rather than traveling from abroad to train players for matches and then leaving again.
These concerns were raised during Chukwu’s appearance as a guest on the Channels Television programme, ‘Channels Sports Sunday.’
According to the former team captain, “Our coach should come and stay with us in Nigeria. We have a lot of talents in Nigeria, in our local league. When you don’t camp and train them and forget about this we have a match, we come on Thursday, they train on Friday, they play on Saturday and they disperse again. We don’t have a team.
“Let’s come back home, all those playing overseas are good players. They have the opportunities. We have those players back home who are equally good but they don’t have the opportunity to go abroad and play. If you come here and discover them, let you be their manager and then expose them to the European market. We have players who are very good, better than the foreign-based players but they don’t have the opportunity.”
Chukwu, who also served as the Super Eagles coach from 2003 to 2006, stressed the need to nurture local talent. “You have to come home and discover them and train them. I am not saying they should not be mixed with the foreign-based. Invite the foreign-based but give the home-based opportunity. They are the ones you can use to get anything you want to get.
“As far as I am concerned we don’t have a national team now because even our coaches stay abroad. He comes with the players to come and play and travel again. He should come and reside here, let us work together. We are ready to help him with whatever he wants to achieve.”
The Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro, has been in the spotlight following the Super Eagles’ recent poor performances, despite guiding Nigeria to qualification for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
According to PUNCH Online, in November, Peseiro expressed dissatisfaction with the Nigeria Football Federation Technical Committee, stating that they should pay him and his team their outstanding allowances rather than instructing him on his job responsibilities.
There are growing concerns around the future of the Eagles’ coach amidst these challenging circumstances.
