Invited foreign based players have been given a stern warning by the coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso as the team step up their preparation for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Bosso Invited as many as ten players plying their trade abroad and they are expected to team up with the players based in Nigeria who started training at the camp of the team two days ago. It’s the final phase of preparation before the U20 AFCON in Egypt next month.
The coach made it clear that all invited foreign based players must be in the camp in Abuja to show their worth as he won’t entertain having them join the team during their planned playing tour or upon arrival in Egypt for the tournament.
*As you can see, two foreign based players are already here, no foreign based will meet me in my training tour camp or the tournament venue, it’s not possible, they have to come here, they have to showcase what they have, they have to fight with the local boys, if they’re better off why not, but if they cannot beat those ones here, it means they have no space”, he said after the team’s first training session.
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Pressed on the issue of players born abroad, the coach said he is open to having them in his team if they show they are better than the ones he has at the moment. He said it’s better to have them integrated into the system at a young age than wait for them to blossom before trying to convince them to switch allegiance to Nigeria.
“We are all Nigerians and it’s not about talent, you are playing in Nigeria from the academy, now you have gone to play professional football in Europe, at least let’s give them hope that they’re Nigerians”
“Let them come and play for their country, if we say because they’re foreign based we don’t want to use them at this level, it means we are not doing good for them and for ourselves because tomorrow they can be better off and they can pledge their allegiance to other countries what will happen”?
“So they must be better than what we have at home before they can be part of this team”.