A new goalkeeper might be in the squad of the senior national team of Nigeria when they regroup for their engagement next year according to coach of the team Gernot Rohr, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Rohr is presently without the services of his first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho who is out injured after picking up an injury in the 1-1 friendly draw against Brazil in November.
In his absence, Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi was in goal for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Lesotho respectively which Nigeria won 2-1 and 4-2 to begin their campaign on a sound note.
Rohr who revealed he almost played Fortuna Dusseldorf II goalkeeper Maduka Okoye in one of the games has now confirmed that he watched two goalkeepers before deciding against calling them up for the games.
” Two new goalkeepers were scouted by us and at least one would have made it but we decided against it because of some factors that I can’t tell. However we are still looking at them. One is in Israel playing regularly for a second division team Hapoel Katamon while the other plays for a team in Austria in the second division”, Rohr said.
The goalkeepers in question is the duo of Adebayo Adeleye who has been ever present for promotion chasing Israel second division side Hapoel Katamon. They are presently 3rd on the log after 13 games and he has kept goal in all but one of their games.
Tobias Lawal is the other goalkeeper talked about by Rohr. The 19 year old is on the books of LASK but presently turns out for the B team of the club and he has been ever present in the team this season with 35 appearances to his name. Although born in Austria he wouldn’t be needing any document from FIFA to play for Nigeria as he is yet to play for Austria at any level.
