NFF president, Pinnick Amaju
The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that the Federation is currently negotiating a deal with a company to pay the salary of a new foreign coach. The foreigner is billed to take over the Super Eagles when the tenure of the caretaker coach, Shaibu Amodu, runs out with the remaining two matches in the qualifying series for the 2015 African Nations Cup.
He told The PUNCH on the telephone, "We have not concluded the discussion and that is why I have refrained from naming the company. What we have been able to conclude is the company sponsoring the training programme for the referees.There's a lot of money involved and it is a sensitive one and so we have to seal the deal first before one can say anything further."
A telecommunications company partnered with the NFF on wages during the tenure of Berti Vogts as the coach of the Eagles.
Pinnick has on many different occasions explained the decision to go for a foreign coach this time. He said that the reason for the choice of a foreigner is for Nigeria to redeem its pride of place in the footballing world. "Our approach is long, short, and medium terms. Our short approach is creating a database of the best Nigerians players."
Stephen Keshi, who took over from Samson Siasia in November 2011, was relieved of his position as the Nigeria coach last week.
Meanwhile, Nigeria international, Ikechukwu Uche has said that he is excited to have scored his 100th goal in Spain. The Eagles forward who was part of the Nigerian team to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa thanked his fans for the support using his Twitter handle. The 2013 competition was the last for the player with the national team as he was sidelined afterwards due to a misunderstanding with the Nigeria manager, Keshi.
The Villarreal striker scored a brace for his club on Sunday to hit his 100th goal mark in Spain.
On Monday he tweeted, "Great game last night, very proud to have scored my 100th goal in Spain. Just want to thank everyone for the support."
The former Iwuanyanwu Nationale striker has played his professional football largely in Spain for Recreativo, Getafe, Zaragoza and Granada.
It is generally hoped that he could return to the Eagles under caretaker manager Amodu as the country desperately seeks to secure a ticket to the 2015 AFCON. The Eagles must win their remaining two matches against Congo in Brazzaville and South Africa in Uyo to have any chance of qualifying.
