Eric Chelle has revealed the back story of the invitation of Benjamin Fredrick to the Super Eagles of Nigeria during the Unity Cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Fredrick was called up as a late replacement for captain of the team Ahmed Musa who left the camp of the team in London during the tournament due to his marriage plans.
He has since gone on to seal a spot in the team playing the full minutes of all the final four games in the world cup qualifiers, and will be hoping to keep his spot either as a right back or at centre back.
Chelle in an interview with Super Eagles legend Segun Odegbami revealed the role the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusua played in the invitation of the 20 year old, who is on loan to Belgium side FC Dender from English Premier League side Brentford.
“During the Unity Cup, the president of the NFF told me he knew there were problems with player availability, and he mentioned a player at Brentford, Benjamin Fredrick”, he told Odegbami.
“I told him I knew about him. He said Fredrick was here, so we brought him into the training session and he was so good. It looked like he had been part of the team for three years. He was a little nervous in his first week, but he’s ready. He’s always the first at appointments in camp, he listens, and he does what you ask.
“He can play centre-back or right-back because he plays at right club level in Dender.”
Another player who also got his chance during that break was Russia based Olakunle Olusegun, and Chelle explained how the friendly game against Russia helped his case, and hopefully keeps him in the team.
“For Olusegun, it was the same. When we were to play Russia, we had problems with players, so Olusegun was here at the best moment and in the right place because he plays in Russia,” he explained.
“Like I did for Benjamin, I put Olusegun in my team after watching two or three of his games. “His training sessions were good too. I gave him minutes, and he did well, the same as he did against Benin. So now he’s in the team, and we’ll see what happens.”
