I can’t pay Babangida –Oliseh

 

Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh has said he wouldn’t be able to pay Tijjani Babangida from his personal account.

It was widely reported this week that the Super Eagles coach who insists he needs Babangida in his team had agreed to pay him if that’s the condition to get him back on the team.

But Oliseh who was in touch with The PUNCH said he couldn’t have made that agreement as he did not have the cash. He however stated that whatever the situation his personal assistant who was fired by the Nigeria Football Fedration last week was needed.

“We need Baba for the team’s balance,” he said.

And also contrary to speculation about a possible return of Emmanuel Emenike to the Eagles, Oliseh has given an indication that he is not considering the West Ham forward.

Emenike retired from the national team last year in the heat of the controversy that saw former captain Vincent Enyeama retire from the team.

However, after he scored a brace in West Ham’s 5-1 thrashing of Blackburn in their FA Cup fifth round tie on Sunday, some football enthusiasts began to discuss the possibility of having Emenike play for Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against Egypt in March.

During an interview on Brila FM on Tuesday, Oliseh said he was happy that Emenike had returned to limelight in England but noted that he (Oliseh) has other good attacking options in the likes of Watford’s Odion Ighalo.

“I’m happy that Emenike is back in the limelight in the English league. But at the same time he has retired, unfortunately for us, and we have other players like Ighalo, who are doing exceptionally well. We saw Victor Moses looking fit. We have to see how fit Victor will be in the next days so we can finalise on what to do,” Oliseh said.

The Nigeria coach said he had filled most of the slots in his squad for the AFCON qualifiers but said he was still meeting the Europe-based players one-on-one.

As a result, he would not meet with the Nigeria Football Federation technical Committee this week as was earlier scheduled.

He said, “I would have loved to meet them this week but there are things I’ve mapped out for this weekend. I’ll be watching a player we might use. I’ve already been to Holland to watch some of our boys play. I’ve been to Belgium to watch two of our players.

“If I come to Nigeria now to meet the committee, it means that in the next two weeks, I’ll be sitting in a hotel room without anybody to train.”

Source:punch