Sunday Oliseh In Talks To Return As Super Eagles Coach

As the debate over who is best suited as the next Super Eagles coach between a foreigner or an indigenous coach rages on, yet to be confirmed reports suggest that the former coach of the team may as well stage a return.

Eighteen-Eleven Media gathered Monday morning that top officials of the Federal Ministry of Sports are in talks with Sunday Oliseh with the hope of convincing him to take up the position he vacated in February 2016.

Our correspondent could not however confirm if the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials are being carried along in the discussion, although it was gathered that a meeting was scheduled for Monday to review the performance of the team in the just concluded Qatar World Cup qualification. Oliseh had a less than cordial relationship with NFF officials during his stay as Eagles gaffer.

The Belgium based former player has, some time ago, said he may reconsider his decision on the Super Eagles job if he is approached for a second stint.

The former Ajax and Borussia Dortmund midfielder played for the West African country between 1993 and 2002 before he was appointed the national team coach in July 2015.

Oliseh’s reign did not last long as he tendered his resignation to the NFF seven months later due to an alleged breach of contract.

The 47-year-old, who is yet to find a new challenge since he left his managerial role at Fortuna Sittard in 2018, said he is ready for a Nigeria return under one condition.

“My country is my country, nobody can take it from me. You can make any comment you want to make, but I am first (a) Nigerian before anything else,” Oliseh told a private television station. Lagos 

 “So, if my country needs me to help out and they ask me to come and do it, I will do it.”

“But I will not do it if I am giving the best of my knowledge for my country to work and somebody is just taking it ‘yes or no’ and then eventually we all fail.

“I resigned from the Super Eagles because I had decided that when I was sick, I was going to stop because I did not get any help from the federation.”

Meanwhile, Oliseh had previously stated that he does not want to coach the Super Eagles again after the struggles he faced in his first stint.

“No, I don’t have the intention of ever coaching the

(Super) Eagles again,’ Oliseh said.

“I loved working with the boys, I loved coaching my country, but the atmosphere around it was no longer healthy.

“I didn’t want the job anymore. Health-wise I was not feeling too good; secondly, we were owed salaries. I was spending money on my health and on my team. I just couldn’t die on the job.

“Truth is, we have a foreign coach now and from what I heard and know, he is being paid four times the wages Stephen Keshi and I were paid and these are two players who won trophies for Nigeria.

“I’ve never heard Gernot Rohr complain about wages. Keshi, while he was coaching, was always complaining, when I was coaching for four months, I was unpaid, for six months my assistants were unpaid, so I had to leave the job; we were also being frustrated,” as quoted by goal.com.