The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle to hand a first time call up to young goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt has stirred up a lot of debate since it was made public.
Harcourt who is the first choice of the Nigeria U20 and also was in goal for the Nigerian CHAN team in their 2-0 win over Congo in their final group game, following their exit after losing their first two games.
Chelle decided to pick the 15 year old ahead of other goalkeepers in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), when he picked four goalkeepers in his preliminary list for the upcoming world cup qualifiers games against Rwanda and South Africa respectively.
” It’s a decision of the coach and you have to respect it. He said because the player who is the first choice of the youth team should be the future of the main team. That’s why he is there”, a source revealed.
” Harcourt is young and will benefit from interacting and training with the senior team. The other goalkeepers in the league are about the same age or older than the ones ahead of them at the moment, and it’s not like they are better so a young goalkeeper is better to have as understudy”, he explained.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
