The head of the football association, Amaju Pinnick, said the association had discussions with Roma coach José Mourinho in its search for a coach for the Super Eagles, Sources within, who spoke to sports journalists in Lagos on Wednesday said they would get a new coach “within the next week,” which means that interim team coach Austin Eguavoen may not be allowed to lead the squad to the 2021 Africa Cup, which begins January 9, 2022 in Cameroon.
Following the sacking of Franco-German Gernot Rohr on December 12, Pinnick said the association was at an advanced stage in finding a permanent replacement for Rohr.
The head of the NFF confirmed that he had held talks with the Serbs Mladen Krstajic and José Mourinho in his quest to recruit a top-notch coach for the national team, adding that Portuguese José Peseiro, a former Real Madrid assistant and manager of FC Porto, was on the Eagles’ three-man squad.
“The new manager’s focus is on discipline, We’ll look at his discipline record,” said Pinnick. So many things and if you want to win you will instill discipline.
We’re going to look at all of these things, but I can’t make an explicit statement because I’m going to undermine my Executive Committee. “So, until my board comes out within the next week or so, that’s the name because the technical committee has to do its presentation to the board. It will be a smooth move for the current team, led by Eguavoen.
“But we spoke to three elite coaches and Peseiro, whose name is floating around, is one of the coaches and I can tell you that he is a top coach, for him he got a job at a large club in Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv.
You can see that these are coaches who are hungry and ready to take Nigeria as their home; They are people we know are ready to rise to the challenge of 200 million Nigerians.
“They are coaches than the players can be bigger and I think we’re doing everything we can and that’s why we interact with the ministry at all levels. “Of course Mourinho, I’m not going to tell you that we didn’t speak to Mourinho because we did and the (Minister of Sport) also spoke to Mourinho and there is nothing wrong with it.
Pinnick declined to name the coach who will coach the Eagles at AFCON, but hinted that the new coach would start work immediately upon his appointment. He added: “If the coach gives us the Nations Cup, it will be withdrawn immediately.
I’m not going to tell you it will be later, what is the essence of recruiting? If the board says yes and we are ready, what are we waiting for? “When I spoke to one of the coaches on Tuesday, he was already exploring our players and telling me things I didn’t even know about our players.
It was pretty impressive and it showed me the strength of each player and surprised me. We won’t experiment and if he can win the Nations Cup, no problem.
“We know Eguavoen can, but we also want someone who can do it better. If we can’t sign him soon, we’ll work with the current team. But I won’t tell you when we have them.
Newsway learnt that the Portuguese Peseiro is a strong contender for the Eagles’ post after recently stepping down as head coach of Venezuela, fueling speculation that the 61-year-old Peseiro should be named in the 2003-04 season and has a lot to offer Experience in the management of the Portuguese club Sporting de Lisboa, Braga, as the new coach of the Eagles in the coming days .
