Jose Mourinho ‘holds talks over becoming next Nigeria manager’
Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation, has revealed that he spoke with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho about the vacant national team manager position. Gernot Rohr was fired earlier this month, just weeks before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Wenger has not been successful since leaving Arsenal after 22 years in 2018. He is currently FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development.
Mourinho, on the other hand, is currently the manager of AS Roma after leaving Tottenham Hotspur earlier this year.
On his return to Italian football, the Portuguese serial winner has led Roma to a mixed start to the season.
They currently sit sixth in Serie A, outside of the European places, but have topped their Europa Conference League group.
In a bizarre story, Pinnick approached both legendary Premier League coaches about the Nigeria job.
He said: “I also spoke with Arsene [Wenger]. Arsene is our technical director at FIFA. I had an interface with him about some of these coaches.
“And, of course, [we spoke to] Mourinho. I am not going to tell you that we did not speak to Mourinho.
“These are some of the best coaches in the world. And there is nothing wrong with it because he [Wenger] is equally concerned just the way we are.”
Pinnick is looking for two things in his candidates: good discipline values and a desire to win trophies.
“The emphasis on the new coach is discipline. We will look at his antecedents on discipline,” Pinnick explained.
“Secondly, we will also look at how hungry he is to win trophies because if they are hungry, it supersedes so many things, and if he wants to win, he will instil discipline.
“We will look at all these things, but I cannot make a pronouncement emphatically because I will be undermining my executive committee.”
But, with both Wenger and Mourinho in relatively new jobs, the NFF’s approaches were, to say the least, audacious.
Nigeria will hope to know who their manager will be by the time the AFCON campaign begins.
In an intriguing tie on January 11, they will begin their tournament against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt.
However, if the country does not resolve its managerial issues before the tournament begins, it may have a disappointing AFCON.
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Jose Mourinho ‘holds talks over becoming next Nigeria manager’
