Fielding questions at his contract signing, Stephen Keshi was acutely aware how thorny the issue of player selection is. It served as a banner of discontent in the dark final days of his previous tenure, as many fans of the team worried about a perceived lack of meritocracy.
So, quite apart from the burden to answer truthfully, the Big Boss was aware that any old name would not do. He has doubtless watched a number of players in the intervening period since his last game in charge of the Super Eagles: a 2-2 result in Uyo against South Africa that ended Nigeria’s Afcon 2015 qualifying hopes. Why then did he pick on Newcastle’s Sammy Ameobi as a person of interest?
In terms of league appearances in Europe’s top five leagues (by UEFA’s coefficients: La Liga, the English Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and Portuguese Primeira), only two Nigerian players have featured more – FC Koln’s Anthony Ujah (28) and Estoril’s Simeon Nwankwo (25) – than Ameobi (23). Factor in the fact that the Premier League is the world’s biggest league, both commercially and in terms of viewership, and it is clear the Big Boss weighted his choice cleverly.
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