'I never confirmed' - Peseiro gives two reasons contract talks to become Nigeria coach fell through

José Peseiro has confirmed that he has failed to reach an agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation over becoming the substantive coach of the senior national team, Super Eagles.

After the Nigeria Football Federation claimed that the Portuguese football tactician would take over the Nigeria national team at the end of their participation at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the Federation decided to retain Augustine Eguavoen as interim coach of the Super Eagles despite their poor performance in Cameroon.

This is not the first time the Nigeria Football Federation under the leadership of flamboyant president Amaju Pinnick have put the cart before the horse by naming a new coach for the national team without an agreement set in stone.

In 2016, prior to the hiring of Gernot Rohr, the NFF had confirmed the appointment of Paul Le Guen as Nigeria manager, only for the Frenchman to turn down the offer.

Peseiro has revealed that a deal with the Nigerian Federation did not materialize due to financial issues and clauses in the proposed contract.

Writing on Instagram, Peseiro stated (translated to English) : "After several weeks of negotiations, during which several news came out, on the part of the Nigerian Football Federation, that I would be the coach of their national team, from the end of CAN'2021, a fact that I never confirmed, these were not materialized due to disagreement regarding contractual clauses and financial matters".

Peseiro was expected to be in Cameroon to act the role of an observer but it is unclear if he was in attendance during Nigeria's matches at AFCON 2021.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel