Nigeria Professional Football League players can look forward to increased representation in the Super Eagles following remarks by the team’s chief scout Tunde Adelakun, who says there are ‘top quality’ players in the domestic league.
The former Chelsea scout is saddled with the responsibility of discovering and recommending players, especially in Europe, for Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, with NPFL stars largely overlooked in recent times.
However, Adelakun says the ‘lack of enough infrastructure’ has hindered the potentials of the NPFL players, which makes it difficult for their inclusion in the Eagles squad.
“We have quality in the league. I can tell you, without a shadow of doubt, that there are top quality football players in the Nigerian league,” he declared on Channels TV earlier in the week.
“What we probably lack at the moment, probably, is enough infrastructure. We need the infrastructure to realize the true potentials of these boys.
“Most of the players who are playing in Europe today came out of the Nigerian Premier League (NPFL). Not long ago, we looked at a player, just before this Covid thing broke, we looked at a player (Chidera) Ejuke (former Gombe United forward).
“Ejuke plays in Heerenveen in Holland. He’s a product of the Nigerian Premier League (NPFL); an immediate product. Not too long ago (in 2016) he was in Nigeria.
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“So, there is quality and the clubs abroad see that quality in them, they have always seen it. I’m in no doubt that there’s quality in the Nigerian Premier League (NPFL).”
Their quality notwithstanding, Adelakun believes there should be a careful plan to ‘harness’ them properly before moving the NPFL players to the Super Eagles.
“We need to harness that quality. We need to have a plan for our players, so that the step up to the Nigerian Super Eagles, that’s the national team, will be relatively easier and smoother than it is at the moment,” he added.
Rohr has previously kept faith with his foreign-based stars but has now been mandated by his employers, the Nigeria Football Federation, to monitor the NPFL as part of the terms of his new contract.
