Rohr eyes new players for Super Eagles, considers Ighalo return, praises NPFL

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr is scouting for new players to strengthen the team ahead of the resumption of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, he has stated.

The qualifiers will reach the concluding stages in late March with group leaders  Nigeria facing Benin Republic away and Lesotho at home in a double-header.

“We’ve been monitoring the players and they’re doing well,” the German said during an interview on the Super Eagles YouTube channel. 

 “Although we have had some injury concerns. For instance (Samuel) Chukwueze underwent surgery in Germany and hopefully he’ll be fit before the end of March.

“(Wilfred) Ndidi is also injured and I hope he can come back very soon. Most of the others who were injured are coming back, like Kalu, Moses Simon and Ekong playing regularly.

“I’m hoping we’ll have difficult choices to make while making the list at the end of the month. We have some new players who can be scouted. Some of them are playing in Germany. We have one in Union Berlin (Taiwo Awoniyi) which is a good team this year. We have other players in France. We have players who are doing very well in Eastern Europe. We know what all of them are doing and every Monday we have a meeting via video conference with my staff to see exactly what they did at the weekend.”

Captain Ahmed Musa is reportedly working on a deal in England after cancelling his contract in Saudi Arabia late last year, and Rohr is monitoring the situation.

“We are in touch with our captain,” the coach added. “He’s in the UK now. It’s not easy to change during the season, but he’s free to sign wherever he wants and there’s no obligation to respect the transfer window for him because he’s a free agent. “I’m hopeful that he can sign in the next days. He wanted to come back to Europe to play in England. It’s not easy during the season but I hope he can sign with a club because it’s important that everybody is playing in a club. It’s a long time that he didn’t play, I think since October, so he needs to come back to the rhythm of the matches.”

Rohr said he would gladly welcome Odion Ighalo back to the national team if the striker is willing to make a comeback.

Ighalo, 31, quit the Super Eagles after emerging as top scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, and he recently joined Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab after ending his one-year loan spell at Manchester United.

“I’m happy he made a very good contract,” Rohr said of Ighalo’s Saudi move.

“You know he is already over 30 and he has to think about time after football. But he’s still very fit and if he’s is playing regularly in his new club Al Shabab, it’s a big club in Saudi Arabia, there’s no reason not to take him into the Super Eagles if he’s doing well. “Ahmed Musa was also playing in Saudi Arabia and he played with us. There’s no problem, the question is ‘does he want to come back’? We hope so because he’s an experienced player and we have a young team. 

“He can be very useful to his partner strikers to help them develop and to score goals of course. We’re waiting for that, but first he has to play now.”

The Nigeria Professional Football League recently restarted after a long break due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and a television deal has seen the games broadcast all over the world via the NPFLTV app.

Rohr is apparently impressed by the improvements.

He said: “It was difficult in the beginning because they didn’t play for nine months. “Now it’s better and also I saw African (CAF competitions) matches in Plateau and Rivers United. It’s interesting that there are still two Nigerian teams in African competition. 

“I’m happy we can watch the home league from everywhere in the world. The NPFLTV is a very good thing for us and people who like football. I saw some interesting games, I saw that Rivers United and Enyimba were doing well and Nasarawa had a good start. 

“I think the players need to play more and more and my local assistants are able to see all the matches. Now that I’m back in Nigeria I can all watch all the matches abd coordinate with CHAN team coaches.”

Having garnered eight points from their first four qualifiers, the Super Eagles are on course for reaching the 2022 AFCON in Cameroon but Rohr is not taking anything for granted.

“The plan for the moment is to be very fit for the two crucial games,” he stated. “We’re still unbeaten with two wins and two draws, so we want to finish the competition well.

 “We need one point to qualify so let’s try and do it in Benin Republic. They have a good team, played very well in the last AFCON, they have experience, speed and are very difficult to beat at home.

“I hope to have everybody available, no injuries and good travelling, which is so important. We need good preparation. We might need the players from Europe to go directly to Benin and not come to Abuja or Lagos and lose time with friends and family.”