'They believe in me at Almeria' - Sadiq admits difficulties adapting to Super Eagles squad

Published: January 17, 2022

Almeria striker Umar Sadiq has admitted that he is having difficulties adapting to his Super Eagles teammates, being his first time with the senior national team.

The 2016 Olympics bronze medalist has been openly criticized by interim manager Augustine Eguavoen after his first two matches off the bench at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations - first for not being on the same level as Taiwo Awoniyi and recently for not playing to instructions.

Sadiq arrived the Super Eagles camp full of confidence with a goal involvement of sixteen (9 goals, 7 assists) in 21 matches for Almeria so far this season, but his self-esteem is diminishing as he does not have the trust of his national team coach.

"Over there at Almeria it is different, they give you confidence, they believe in you, they let you do what you want but here for me is a new environment so I need to adapt. Let us see what will happen," Sadiq said to allnigeriasoccer.com at the end of training on Monday night.

Sadiq wants the Super Eagles to finish the group stage on a high note, by beating Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday.

Without giving the early team news away, it remains to be seen if the Almeria goal poacher would be Eguavoen's preferred choice to lead the attack.

"I hope we can pick nine points because it is not easy to top the table with maximum points so if we do that that's a good example, I hope we can do it," Sadiq concluded.

The 24-year-old Sadiq was Nigeria's joint top scorer at the 2016 Olympic Games with four goals to his name, along with Stoke City loanee Oghenekaro Etebo.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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