Ndubuisi Emmanuel Egbo, a former Super Eagles goalkeeper, has expressed his concerns about the dwindling presence of Nigerian footballers at top European clubs.
He highlighted the shift from previous eras when Nigerian players graced some of the biggest football teams in the continent.
In an interview with Tribalfootball, Egbo lamented the contrast to bygone times when renowned players like Nwankwo Kanu featured at Arsenal, Austin Okocha dazzled at PSG, and Celestine Babayaro held the left-back position at Chelsea during Egbo’s tenure, earning 12 caps for the Super Eagles.
Egbo acknowledged that there are still some exceptions, like Victor Osimhen (Napoli), Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan), Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen), and Ademola Lookman (Atalanta), who currently represent Nigeria in reputable European teams. However, he emphasized that many Nigerian players are now scattered among mid-table clubs or even toiling in lower divisions.
“In contrast to the past, now you can mention only a few Nigerian players who play in Europe, like Victor Osimhen or Victor Boniface. The others simply do not play in strong teams,” remarked the 50-year-old coach.
Egbo drew from his own experiences, emphasizing the potential impact this trend could have on the performance of the Nigerian national team.
“During my time, we had players playing for teams like Arsenal, PSG, Chelsea, etc. This will also impact the performance of our national team. We have only two players like Osimhen and Boniface who are playing regularly and doing a great job with Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen,” he said.
Egbo, who retired from active football in 2011 and seamlessly transitioned into coaching, hails from Aba. In 2020, he made history by guiding Albanian club KF Tirana to their first league title in a decade, becoming the first coach from Africa to win a European championship.
