Rohr And Agents Are At Loggerheads Over Nigeria's Provisional World Cup Roster

Published: May 12, 2018

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has revealed that some agents have attempted to influence his choice of players for the national team ahead of Monday's deadline of naming a 35-man provisional squad for the World Cup.

The former Bayern Munich defender admitted that there has been renewed pressure from these agents as the stock of their clients would rise if they are included on the roster.

Rohr has made it clear he has no intention of dropping the players that qualified Nigeria for the tournament in Russia and it is thought that the provisional roster will contain ninety percent of the players summoned for the pre-World Cup friendlies against Poland and Serbia.

''Some agents are calling me or sending me messages about their players, they want me to take them but it is not pressure,'' Rohr said to Channels Television.

''They try to do some things but they see that I don't accept their proposal. I have a look, sometimes, they try to work for the players which is normal.

''I have never been under pressure, I never got money proposal to take one player because they know my reputation, 45 years in professional football I never did it.''

Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi, Francis Uzoho, Shehu Abdullahi, William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun, Brian Idowu, Obi Mikel, Eddy Onazi, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ahmed Musa, Victor Moses, Odion Ighalo, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho are assured of spots in Nigeria's 23-man World Cup squad.

The remaining seven spots will be given to utility players such as Ola Aina and Kenneth Omeruo.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel