Nigeria Coach Gernot Rohr Reacts To Mikel's Move To Middlesbrough

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has expressed happiness over Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel's move to EFL Championship side Middlesbrough.

The German football tactician revealed that the Super Eagles captain chose Boro ahead of his other suitors, not limited to AS Roma and Wolfsburg, because he wants to be close to his family who remained in the United Kingdom after he transferred to Tianjin Teda in January 2017.

''We are very happy about it because he has not played for a long time, Obi Mikel is a player who is willing to play now and wanted to come back to Europe, his family is staying there,'' Rohr said.

''I am happy for him he can find a good club again. Now, we will watch what he is doing, he needs a little time perhaps to come back into the rhythm of the matches.

''We want him to come back to the national team like other players. If he is playing well with his new team, he stands a chance of coming back to us, but he has not told me he will quit the team.

''He remains the captain of the team till he says otherwise, we will be happy to have him back for his experience.''

Obi Mikel, 31 trained with his new teammates on Thursday morning ahead of Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie against Newport County.

NIGERIANS PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH OUR CAPTAIN MIKEL OBI- SIASIA FORMER SUPER EAGLES COACH

Super Eagles Former Coach, Samson Siasia has pleaded with Nigerian football fans to allow Mikel Obi to sort out his club future before he returns to the national team. The former Eagles striker told www.adantesports.com.ng from his base in the U.S. yesterday that there were two key things the player must sort out before he rejoining the national team. "Everybody knows that Mikel is a patriotic and devoted captain of the Super Eagles. To the best of my knowledge, he will never shirk his responsibility as Eagles Captain. He will not also abscond from the team without cogent reasons. "One thing we should also know is that Mikel (Obi) has not played for a while now, and he is trying to move to another club. "I believe he wants to secure his job situation before he will worry about Super Eagles," Siasia said. Mikel, who has not played for the Super Eagles since Nigeria's last game at the Russia 2018 World Cup, recently left his Chinese club, Tiajin

Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has handed the reins of their national U-23 team to Imama Amapakabo. The 49-year-old succeeds Salisu Yusuf, who is serving a ban imposed on him by the NFF last year in relation to bribery and corruption. Amapakabo was the U-23s first assistant coach, but now has the hot seat for their matches against Libya next month in the second round of qualifying for the 2019 African Under-23 Cup of Nations finals.Amapakabo served on the technical team of Nigeria's senior side under coach Gernot Rohr at the World Cup in Russia last year. He also worked with Yusuf in the Nigerian team which finished as runners-up at last year's African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Morocco. The NFF will expect him to secure a qualification berth for the U-23 continental finals, which will be held in Egypt in November. That tournament will in turn serve as the final phase of qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games. The top three teams at the U-23 AFCON secur

Breaking : Super Eagles GK Akpeyi Flies Into Johannesburg To Discuss Personal

naijafutbalplus.blogspot.com understands that Nigeria international Daniel Akpeyi might bid farewell to Chippa United before the close of the January transfer window in South Africa. The experienced Super Eagles goalkeeper has just landed in Johannesburg to discuss personal terms with Kaizer Chiefs and it is envisaged that those negotiations will be fruitful. Chippa United reached a club-to-club agreement with Kaizer Chiefs before Akpeyi departed Port Elizabeth this morning. The 32-year-old has been on the books of Chippa United since 2015 and has made over 100 appearances for the club, posting 36 shutouts. He wore the jerseys of Gabros, Heartland, Nasarawa United and Warri Wolves before moving abroad. Akpeyi was included in Nigeria's squad for the 2005 Fifa U20 World Cup, 2016 Olympic Games and 2018 World Cup.

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