Why I turned down the offer to be the new coach of the Super Eagles: Former Italian defender Cannavaro opens up

Legendary Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro has revealed the main reason why he turned down the opportunity to be the new coach of the Nigeria senior national team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

As we reported exclusively following the announcement of Bruno Labbadia as the team’s new manager, Cannavaro was on a revised shortlist of four candidates that includes Aitor Karanka and Gustavo Poyet.

However, Labbadia made a U-turn on the offer following a disagreement over his tax payments during talks, forcing the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to appoint the body’s technical director Austine Eguavoen as interim coach for this weekend’s AFCON qualifier against Benin Republic in Uyo.

Speaking about his next step in his coaching career after his last job as manager of Serie A side Udinese, Cannavaro revealed that he had offers, including from Nigeria, but wants to wait until the end of ten years in the hope that a Serie A team or any team in Europe will take a chance on him.

“I had offers from Nigeria [national team] “And in Iranian clubs, but for Serie A and European clubs I want to wait until December. After that, I might start travelling again.”

Mohamed Mowiz Suleiman