Former Nigeria instead striker Odion Ighlao says head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle should pick Victor Osimhen as the new captain of the team in the wake of the retirement of William Troost-Ekong, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Ekong’s retirement has thrown open the role of who will wear the armband at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, which begins on the 21st of December with Nigeria in action on the 23rd against Tanzania.
Like we exclusively reported Chelle has already settled for Wilfred Ndidi as the new captain of the team with Moses Simon as his deputy. Alex Iwobi and Victor Osimhen complete the hierarchy.
Ighlao who was the top scorer at the 2019 AFCON is however of a different opinion and gave his reasons in an interview with veteran Nigerian journalist Colin Udoh.
“I will pick Victor [Osimhen]. I’ll give you my reason why. Not because he’s the oldest player in the team, but because there are people ahead of him in the team. “There’s like 4 or 5 right now.
“I think Simon is the oldest, there are people ahead of him. But because now Osimhen is doing well, he is in his time. And he has the balls to demand what they want.
“[Wilfred] Ndidi is not a talking type. Indeed he’s a very calm guy. But Osimhen is outspoken. He’s going to speak on behalf of the team.
“He’s gonna ginger the boys. You see in the game sometimes he will say, ‘hey, hey, come on’, you see, sometimes you see him talking loud. You understand, he’s going to fight for the boys. He’s going to speak to anybody he needs to speak to, to make sure they are OK”.
Ade Emmanuel
