Eagles new foreign coach to stay in Lagos

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have concluded plans to hire a new foreign coach for the Super Eagles, following Coach Samson Siasia’s failure to qualify the team for Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup.

There are also strong indications that the NFF may drop Siasia from the U-23 team to the Rio Olympic Games, as the federation is said to be holding the coach responsible for Nigeria’s failure in the double-header AFCON clash against the Pharaohs. The NFF is blaming Siasia’s poor tactics and alleged biased selection of players for the failure.

A source close to the NFF President, Pinnick Amaju, told The Guardian yesterday in Lagos that every arrangement had been concluded to appoint an expatriate, whose salaries will be borne by a private company.

The official disclosed that the new coach, of French nationality, wants a monthly salary of 44,000 euros and has requested that he would like to stay in Lagos, where he would have more opportunity of watching young players in the local league.

According to the source, the new coach has already secured two friendly matches for the Super Eagles against Holland and Scotland.

“The coach said he wants to make history with Nigeria. He is coming with a physical trainer and another person and he said he would pay them from the 44,000 euros. The man has also agreed to take Austin Jay Jay Okocha as his assistant coach.”

It was learnt yesterday that the President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, has agreed to vacate his residence at 1004, Victoria Island, for the incoming foreign coach, if the deal scaled through.

“The foreign coach has told us that he is already in touch with the French community in Nigeria. He has assured us that he would ensure Nigeria qualified for the World Cup and also do well in Russia 2018,” the official said.

The NFF official stated yesterday that there was nothing to worry about the payment of salary for the foreign manager. “His wages would be taken care of by the private sector. We have concluded that and it will not cost government anything. We will make them utilise all FIFA windows to play quality friendly matches,” he stated.

The official refused to mention the name of the would-be coach yesterday, but several names of European coaches are being bandied as possible options, including Frenchmen: Henry Michel, former Cameroun coach, Paul Le Guen and Claude Le Roy, among others.

Last year, Michel expressed his willingness to manage the Super Eagles if approached by the NFF. Meanwhile, there were feelers yesterday that the NFF may have fallen out with Coach Samson Siasia for his ‘poor’ tactics and ‘poor’ managerial role, which cost the Super Eagles the 2017 AFCON ticket.

“How come Siasia left a player like Ogenyi Onazi out of the team and settled for the likes Azubuike Godson and Umar Aminu in such a crucial match against Egypt? Do you know that Siasia changed the team’s captain from Musa to Mikel without informing the leadership of the NFF? What would have happened if Kaduna fans had reacted angrily to it?” the official stated.