”I never confirmed I’ll join Eagles after AFCON”-Peseiro

Portuguese Coach Jose Peseiro says he has never confirmed to the Nigeria Football Federation that he was going to accept the Super Eagles job after the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations.

The NFF stated in December that they had met virtually to deliberate, among other issues, the appointment of Peseiro as the new head coach of the Eagles following the termination of Gernot Rohr’s contract. It said that the former Saudi Arabia coach would take over the team after the AFCON.

“After careful consideration of a memo presented by Chairman of the Technical and Development Sub-Committee, the Executive Committee endorsed a proposal for the appointment of Mr Jose Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles, following the end to the relationship with Mr Gernot Rohr,” the statement read in part.

“However, the Committee resolved that Mr. Augustine Eguavoen, named the interim Head Coach, will lead the Super Eagles to AFCON 2021 in Cameroon with Mr. Peseiro only playing the role of Observer.

“It was unanimously agreed that the AFCON is a good avenue for Mr. Peseiro to launch a working relationship with Mr. Eguavoen, who will revert to his role as Technical Director (hence Mr Peseiro’s immediate boss) after the AFCON.”

However, the NFF on Monday announced that Eguavoen would remain in charge of the Eagles and would be assisted by former U-20 coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, Salisu Yusuf and Joseph Yobo.

In what could be a reaction to the NFF announcement, Peseiro stated on Twitter that he didn’t confirm to the NFF that he would take over the Eagles job.

“After several weeks of negotiations, during which there was news from the Nigerian Football Federation, that I would be the coach of their team, from the end of Afcon 2021, a fact that I never confirmed, and these did not materialise due to disagreement regarding contrarian clauses and financial matters,” the 61-year-old wrote on Twitter.

PUNCH/Mercy Chukwudiebere