By Chris King • Updated: 03 Jun 2022 • 17:57
It has been revealed that the Nigeria Football Federation had ‘talks’ with Portuguese coach, Jose Mourinho. Nigeria have an important date in January with the Africa Cup of Nations being staged again.
Despite Mourinho currently being in charge of Serie A giants, Roma, on a three-year deal, Amaju Pinnick, the NFF president has admitted to sitting down with him. Pinnick is searching for a new coach following the departure earlier this month of their German coach, Gernot Rohr.
Augustine Eguavoen, who previously represented Nigeria, has been placed in charge of the squad on a temporary basis. It has been eight years since the late Stephen Keshi led Nigeria to victory in the AFCON, in 2013. In 2019 they finished in third place, while in 2017 the team failed to even qualify.
Pinnick admitted to holding a meeting with the former Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester United manager. Speaking with the Nigerian media outlet, Daily Trust, Pinnick said, “The emphasis on the new coach is discipline. We will look at his antecedents on discipline”.
He continued, “Secondly, we will also look at how hungry he is to win trophies, because if they are hungry it supersedes so many things and if he wants to win he will instil discipline. We will look at all these things but I cannot make a pronouncement emphatically, because I will be undermining my executive committee”.
“Of course, Mourinho, I am not going to tell you we didn’t talk to Mourinho, because we did, and the sports minister also talked to Mourinho, and there is nothing wrong with it.”
Adding: “When I spoke with one of the coaches on Tuesday, he was already scouting our players, and was telling me things I didn’t even know about our players. It was quite impressive, and he told me the strength of each player, and he took me off guard. We are not going to experiment and if he can win the Nations Cup, no problem”.
When asked about such a move, Mourinho commented last year, “Yes I want to coach a national team. I want to have the experience of a World Cup and European Championship, the emotion of the short competition”.
“Is Portugal the one I want to do? On one side yes as it is my heart. But it is very difficult to do it with the country you were born in”, he added, as reported by dailystar.co.uk.
___________________________________________________________
Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories, and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.