22nd April, 2015
Returnee Super Eagles’ Chief Coach has handed down serious warning to any Nigerian player who wants to play in his team that they should be in top form before he would give them Eagles shirts.
Keshi signed a two-year deal of N5 million monthly salary with Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, in Abuja yesterday, ending months of uncertainty and speculation over his future. After he had signed the deal, the former coach of Hawks of Togo said henceforth his players must put in the right amount of effort to raise their game.
The former Super Eagles’ captain noted that he would like to see so many players making the Eagles, but warned that benchwarmers will find it hard to get shirts in the new Super Eagles.
Keshi revealed that any big player who hopes for a senior team call up in this second dispensation would have to work very hard to prove his form, as he believes that selection from now on will be performance based.
“It’s not easy, it’s a tasking job, but this is what I love doing and I love seeing these young kids come into camp because it’s my legacy when I was in Togo and Mali. But for me to be able to control their performance or level in the game, it is a personal thing and matter of personal excellence. It depends on every individual to put in the right effort to get better. It’s not my job to be on their necks to tell players how much importance they attach to their career.
“They are all adults, they’re professionals and they should live up to that level,” Keshi warned.
Meanwhile, the NFF has said it would announce the assistant coaches of the Eagles soon.
“Now that we are done with the signing of coach Stephen Keshi as the head coach, we can now focus on other issues for instance his assistants,” stated Felix Anyansi-Agwu, the NFF technical committee chairman.
“We need to sit down with Keshi to discuss his assistants and also his programme for the national team.”
Former Kano Pillars and Enyimba coach Salisu Yusuf is expected to replace Daniel Amokachi as Keshi’s most senior assistant.