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Nigeria senior national team coach Eric Chelle has openly confessed his admiration for Al Ittihad’s 19-year-old striker George Ilenikhena, reports OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Ilenikhena moved to Saudi Arabia in the January transfer window from French Ligue 1 giants Monaco, but Chelle revealed she still has her eyes on him.
Born in the Nigerian city of Lagos but raised in France, he turned down the opportunity to commit his international future to Nigeria when Chelle approached him while he was still in Monaco.
Despite his refusal, Chelle does not take his eyes off him and, following yesterday’s 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe in the Unity Cup, revealed that he is among the diaspora players he is targeting for the team.
Chelle made this known in response to a question about whether he is looking for German-born players who are eligible for the team. He also confirmed that our injury report was the reason why Bayer Leverkusen winger Nathan Tella was unavailable for the tournament.
“Nathan was supposed to come, but he had an injury. We followed about 80 players in a week in Europe and we followed 150 players in a month. So we followed a lot of players in Europe, especially in Germany and England. Some of them in Saudi Arabia, because we have a striker who played for Monaco, he is a good player,” he said.
“But the first idea is that we have a good team and at this moment they are at the top. So this is the moment in which they have to win something and as I said we have to analyze every game we play and I only hope that this team improves. I do my job,” he concluded.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
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