Former Nigerian captain, Kanu Nwankwo has identified a swift return to picking talent from schools as the first step to the rebuilding of the image of Nigerian football, which has dwindled this year – sinking to an all-time low.
Kanu, who is also Nigeria’s national football ambassador, expressed concern at the falling standard of football in Nigeria.
“It was painful to see Nigeria fail to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since I was actively involved in the sport,” he said. “And when our Super Falcons failed to make it to the Olympic Games, we all pinned our hopes on the Under-23 team – Dream Team V. And in Morocco, we all saw the dream fade away,” said Kanu from his London base at the weekend.
The former Arsenal star observed that enough was not being done to unearth talents from the streets, and that rather, Nigerian coaches are hell-bent on seeking and using “ready-made material” from clubs in Europe, regardless of how they got to those clubs and what they actually do there.
“In the eyes of the average Nigerian coach, any player who dons the jersey of a team in the first division in any country in Europe is good enough for the national team. This is not supposed to be so,” he continued.
“In our days, we took our time before making it to Europe. We were discovered in schools, playing Principals’ Cup, Academicals or National Sports Festivals, etc. We got the grooming we needed before we got here (Europe).
“Unfortunately these days, once a player manages to stay six months in the Nigerian league, he feels he is ripe enough to go abroad. But look at what is happening now – out of every 10 Nigerian players that go to Europe on trial, 8 or 9 always come back, because they are not ripe enough,” Kanu revealed.
In his opinion, “we need to go back to the schools. We will get natural talent from there. I am teaming up with the new Football In Our Schools project to encourage the Nigeria Football Federation to embrace the sourcing of talent in our schools, encouraging schools competitions and making big players from the raw material that abound in this country.”
Also speaking on the issue of discovery talents from the streets, co-founder of the Football In Our Schools project, Tunde Adelakun said: “it is important that we build the future of our football from our schools. We need great players who have sound mentality and maturity which sometimes comes from a good educational background”.
Adelakun, who is also the Special Adviser to the NFF President on International Relations, also observed that “it is the best way to get good role models and change the perception that playing football is for school drop-outs.