Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr is seeking to convince Bayern Munich youngster Joshua Zirkzee to play for the team , reports Completesports.com.
Zirkzee, 18, has earned rave reviews for his impressive performance for Bayern Munich since making his debut in a UEFA Champions League clash against Tottenham Hotspur in December 2019.
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According to a a report in France Football, Rohr and the Nigeria Football Federation have started discussions with the striker and are trying to convince him to play for the Super Eagles.
Zirkzee, who is of Nigerian descent has represented Netherlands at youth level.
He has scored three goals in four league appearances for Bayern Munich this season.
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47 Comments
Right Move, I hope he accepts to play for us. Super eagle is gradually becoming super.
ZIRKZEE (sounds like XERXES, the ancient Persian ruler) is a good player.
In his clips that I saw, he plays as a forward or attacking midfielder. His touch reminds me of Ruud Gullit. Looks like a good prospect.
We nor send you these guy is still young. Call dessers and ejuke before u they find the one we dont clamour for. The last time u went and invite otabor and seree bazee and ur idowu. U are not good scout my dear coach. Just live the work for Nigerians we know our taste. Concentrate on how to make good changes and good reading of the game
Rubbish!!!
Coach Rohr and NFF, you both have to be careful, most especially Oga Rohr.
Coach Rohr and NFF haven’t heard about Saka? May be he is not good enough.
NFF should please talk to Mr. Rohr, we need good goal keepers.
The introduction of Yobo should help you discover new tactics and more talents but if I don’t see much improvement, we can’t continue this way.
Saka is waiting for Nigeria call.
Osage is waiting for your call but you keep ignoring them all.
I won’t blame you but NFF. God bless Nigeria!!!
Saka is waiting for Nigeria call…next month or next year…? Has he applied for international switch from FiFA…? Is he eligible to play for Nigeria at the moment…? Is it not stupidity to call up a player who cannot play for you first least the next one year…???
Have you forgotten @Omo Naija discovered Bukayo Saka since when he(Saka) was two years old? Can’t you read him mention his name now?
He as well discovered the likes of Kingsley Ehizibue, Leon Balogun, Alex Iwobi,Semi Ajayi, Cyril Dessers and others too numerous to mention.
Don’t forget, Omo Naija is already discovering Zirkzee of Bayern Munich. Watch out.
Lol
Bros you no dey follow zirkzee up….so you don’t know how good he is…..go and watch his best….he is better than more most of our midfielders….d guy is a good attacking midfielder….
It is now that he is young that we should go for him. If he grows up and becomes a big star, it will be more difficult, as Holland will be interested by then. The guy may be young, but he can play. He brings an exciting new option in the AM role.
Gabbage
@pompei. My bro i can understand but how many players do we have to invite. Nigeria have ajayi a great attacking midfielder playing great football in al ali egypt. But our coach never gave him a chance. He just saw a debutant striker among over 7 inform striker we have he is runing after an unknown striker. I think rohr like players from germany and france bcos his parents shares both nationality. Anyway its just a thought, he is such adamant to obviously good players i think its pride and ego. How can he not be talking of ejuke by this time is he blind? If not for pinnik believe dat guy dont care about dessers. He almost lost to cameroun bcos of this atitude holding on to moses simon and musa old school wingers. Wen onyekuru and chukwueze was in is bench until he was forced to remove simon for chukwueze before we begin to feel the vibes again. Same mistake late keshi did for ignoring uche kalu in worldcup and that was the missing eagle at the world cup. If u are holding any position try to listen at least sometimes to the people u are serving
Collins ID, I see your point. I too am a bit frustrated that Ejuke has not been invited yet. Let’s give Rohr the benefit of the doubt. As long as Ejuke and others continue to perform, their time will surely come.
He doesn’t need to convince Ejuke to play for Nigeria. When the time comes he will invite him to play for His country Nigeria. That was how they left Alaba because he was very young then. Now, he would have been one of our greatest player of all time.
If he is so good why is he still Egypt?
Amuneke was playing for Zamalek of Egypt when he went for the USA 94 world cup.
He was a focal player for the Super Eagles.
Rasheedi Yekini was playing for Shooting Stars when he started benching John Fashanu who then was playing for Wimbledon. Daniel Ameokachi was playing for Ranchers Bees Kaduna when he started playing first team regular with the Super Eagles. George Finidi was playing for Calabar Rovers when he started playing for the Super Eagles.
You see, quality remains quality regardless of where it is found. After all isn’t some of the highest quality diamond in the world sourced from Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone?
Oga…this is 2020…almost 30 years afterwards.
30 years ago, we could barely boast of 30 Nigerian footballers playing abroad. The best of the best of them where the few who were ready outside or those about to be snapped up. So looking for quality players abroad would have been akin to looking for a needle in an haystack.
Today we have over 2000 of them playing professionally outside Africa.
Currently the coaching crew has over 450 Nigerian players in their scouting database with 65 of them holding dual nationality.
If Junior Ajayi still thinks he stands a chance breaking into the SE as a striker while still playing in AlAhly….then I wish him good luck.
But with strikers hammering goals every weekend in the top 5 leagues and in European competitions still battling to have stamp their feet in the SE, he had better dusted his arse and move.
The choice is his. But he’s way down the pecking order for officials and fans alike.
Even Egypt as a country has done away with those years when all their national team players are either from Zamalek or AlAhly. At Russia 2018 only about 30% of their team was homebased, most of them fringe players. Trust me, if they had a wider pool of Europe based professionals, even those 30% wouldn’t make it to the mundial.
Ovie Ejaria?
Plss help me ask them oo……if Ajay is that good why is he in Egypt…..
Why isnt that Ejuke Chidera has not gotten an invitation to the super eagles. I dont mean to disrespect anyone, buh i dont see any better right winger in our SE than Ejuke..pls can u pls watch that guy ..his moves, runs, splitting passes are exceptional..abi no b Nigerian?
My take.Nigeria is blessed with many wingers,in fact that area seem to be out greatest strength.Be that as it may care must be taken the way and manner we go about inviting players,our greatest on doing will be reckless invitation of players no matter how good.
Presently in SE we have samu,Simon Moses,Samuel Kalu,Bonaventure,and one other.Of the above mentioned can anyone tell me which one is doing badly as to require replacement?.Kalu was that good that as soon as he returned from injury he made the starting 11. Simon Moses is rated as one of the most effective players in Ligue 1. Chukwu Eze is one with demoralizing skills that we know very well.Bonaventure is one of the most exciting young players in Europe.
Now, invitation in modern day football is not done for fun,it is done with extreme need for same.The only reason the coach will make new invitation from the usual in the attack is because of the urgent need in that area with the injury to Bonaventure and the dip in form of Onuachu Paul,in place of Bonaventure Ejuke can come in and Desser can come in for Paul.Remmeber we can only take at most 8 attackers at a time. With the form of the first in time very intact it will be didificult for anyone to come in.
The areas we need urgent attention now which a believe we should work towards is the mid section and defence.We need alternative full backs and a dm urgently.Imagine injury to Ndidi we will have only Etebo and reluctantly Aribo,cos to me Aribo is a 10.
Remember,we will keep having attackers in abundance cos that is one area we are so blessed, but we can only invite what we need at a time so that we can easily build chemistry amongst the team.
One of the decisions that threw SE back wards for a long time was the decision of Onigbinde to disband a complete team enroute 2002 world cup,throwing away the likes of Finish,Oliseh Amokachi in the name that they are old.But how long Did justice Christopher play and how far did the team go.As exciting as the team was they failed cos there was nothing to learn from.Onigbide tried but could not teach football on the pages of paper.
The Coach has not come out to say he is pursuing one player or another,until then we should deceased from passing judgement on him.The Rohr I know will not invite a player unless it is urgent and very well needed no matter the pressure.Hes a German,they are very effective.
I see your point Asoko; very eloquently put!
Coach Rohr and NFF, you both have to be careful, most especially Oga Rohr.
Coach Rohr and NFF haven’t heard about Saka? May be he is not good enough.
NFF should please talk to Mr. Rohr, we need good goal keepers.
The introduction of Yobo should help you discover new tactics and more talents but if I don’t see much improvement, we can’t continue this way.
Saka is waiting for Nigeria call.
Osage is waiting for your call but you keep ignoring them all. If you are not a German player or playing in their league, the chances are slim?
I won’t blame you but NFF. God bless Nigeria!!!
Crybaby stop whinning like a bitch come on now
When it comes to wingers Moses simeon and Musa are not effective, Simon is effective as a false 9 or wing-back, Musa is only effective as a false 9 only. We currently have 3 good wingers namely chukwueze, Kalu and Dennis who is out injured. Personally I wish that ejuke will be invited and Musa dropped because in his position we have capable hands that can do the job better. Will Rohr have the mind to drop his ageing captain? There’s still another chance since ejuke can play as CAM, will Rohr include him in his midfield as a substitute for Iwobi? Na watch I dey watch ooh!
Emmanuel Dennis 9 goals, 0 assist so far this season
Moses Simon 9 goals, 5 assists so far this season
Ahmed Musa 0 goals, 4 assists so far this season
Samuel Kalu 1 goal, 1 assist so far this season
Samuel Chukwueze 6 goals, 1 assist so far this season
Chidera Ejuke 10 goals, 4 assists so far this season
Based on current form Chidera Ejuke is Nigeria’s best winger in Europe so far this season followed closely by Moses Simon and Emmanuel Dennis Bonaventure. Dennis is currently injured so I will definitely like to see Ejuke extended an invitation very soon. Kalu can always walk into SuperEagles starting 11 when fit because he provides a dynamic balance to the attack as evidence against Ukraine with his mesmerizing dribbles and improvisation. Chidera also provides such dynamism from what I’ve seen about him in the Dutch league this season. Simon is better as a false 9 or a wing back, but he gives the team the much needed balance when called upon. We have a lot of options on both wings in the attacking third and only the ones that can interpret the coaches philosophy on the pitch will be given the nod. We are in an exciting times as SuperEagles fans. Any player who is not up to the task or lost form will be discarded without much fuss because another top talent is waiting to take his place.
Nice write-up Ayphilly. Nothing rarely beats a submission based on facts and meaningful interpretation of what is in front of you.
Thanks @deo much appreciated.
I am more concerned about a natural 10..
Iwobi has been blowing do cold.
He is not improving, and I don’t see him.mzking an effort to do better.
His touches,body movement,leg works and many others have really declined..
It will be impartial just to see him walk into the SE squad like that..
I therefore object that the number 10 role be given a more competitive consideration..
Iwobi has been a player I longed to watch, so I am not hating on him…
I saw it coming very early in the season that Iwobi was stagnating. Very promising player, but waiting for him to fulfil all that promise is almost like waiting for Nigeria to be declared a visa-free country by the United States.
But, Iwobi remains very hard working and committed. Injuries also haven’t helped. His experience too cannot be discounted.
But, speaking more to your point, Walking, I too haven’t seen any meaningful signs of improvements in Iwobi this season.
2 goals and 1 assist over 22 games from different positions is poor by any standards for an international attacking midfielder.
However, there is still time for him to get better and you never know, he might just just to a corner and, right before our eyes, start churning out performances that we know he is capable of!
And, you are quite right when you said that highlighting the obvious does not mean you are hating on Iwobi. We all wish him the very best.
Cheers bro.
Wat is your business with is assist and goals for is club. The most important thing is that he is playing. Iwobi might not been scoring or assisting but he plays. And let everton be bodered about that. I dont what u guys want from him. The last he played for eagles he score a goal and was the engine as usual. He made the touch that caused the penalty against benin republic. What is ur business in is everton performance and who told you he most score or assist to be a midfielder. When mikel obi played that number 10 role for nigeria year in year out was he not a benjamin for chelsea? And wen mikel played ten years in premier league how many goals did he score and how many assists? When jayjay was playing would u think of replacing him becos of club performance. Brazil took ronaldo to 2002 wcup after 6 months injury did anyone performs more than him. Please is high time you guys start to respect iwobi and stop counting is goals and assist for club. Beside he is not a top striker. Everytime u guys most found something to talk about a genius like iwobi whos record with the supereagles is more than any midfielder in Nigeria history. I am not saying he is better than the rest. But go and count how many assist and goal per game for eagles so far at his age. You will not found any one similar including great Jayjay okocha. Please enough of this disrespect. Or is it becos u guys are older than him? Wat has tomy cruse be playing for madrid in the last ten games? Do u espect germany to start benching him bcos of madrid?
Good one @ Collin Id, don’t waste your time with people who only started showing interest in football because of English premiership. They got no clue of how football works. You know them from their write ups. That’s only as far as they know. God continue to bless Iwobi, the engine room of our SE.
It doesn’t have to be a reproach. There is also sense in what the others said about Iwobi and his current form, that is an angle and they are only expressing concern for a player the love. Your presentation is also an angle to be considered because to be candid Iwobi is no small player for the Super Eagles. There is therefore no need to reproach @Walking and @Deo, let’s just rubinds and discuss as fans who love and mean well for our dear Super Eagles.
Some people seems to have a personal issues with Iwobi, you people should go and settle your issue don’t bring it here in public.
Iwobi is doing well as our no 10 but he needs competition in order not to feel relax, we currently have players who can wake him up but all depends on oga Rohr.
I’m reading screams of call up for chidera and I’m asking…call up for which match…??? The last match the SE played was in November. Since then we have not played any match. Our next match will be later this month and the list has not even been released…???
So why this hue and cry when the list of invitees hasn’t been released…?? Why not wait for the list to be made public first.
Chidera would have made the November list, but was already pencilled down for the U23 AFCoN only for his club to decline releasing him for that tournament at the last minute. It’s not as if these things are hidden secrets….they’ve all be there in the media.
I know some people know better than Rohr….that’s why they are here on CSN screaming for nothing, while Rohr is earning $50,000. They think Rohr doesn’t watch Nigerian players and doesn’t know which one of them is doing well and should be invited. They think Rohr does not read about the exploits of the likes of Dessers, Chidera or Umar on the same internet where they read about these players too.
My advise to them is to stop jumping the gun. The list for our next round of matches hasn’t been released. So keep you firearms in your pockets for the moment. It is only sensible that you wait till when the list for the next round of matches is released before you start stabbing the old man.
owngoalnigeria.com/2017/10/10/belgian-nigerian-striker-dessers-to-audition-for-rohr-before-eagles-game-against-algeria/
scorenigeria.com.ng/dessers-i-made-up-my-mind-5-years-ago-to-play-for-super-eagles/
owngoalnigeria.com/2020/03/03/sadiq-umar-rohr-knows-a-lot-about-me-hell-call-me-soon/
owngoalnigeria.com/2019/10/01/rohrs-target-chidera-ejuke-makes-dutch-league-team-of-the-week-after-brace-for-heerenveen/
Anyone who reads the above threads without allowing hatred to becloud his sense of judgement will know that GR monitors and knows every Nigerian footballer doing well and each one just need to wait for his turn to have his chance. It’s also not a secret anymore that his invitations are strictly on merit and that current players are an injury or loss of form away from missing their next match in a SE shirt.
We saw the performance of our wingers against Ukraine and Brazil, I don’t think another winger could have gotten a call up ahead of them for the November qualifiers.
Currently, chidera is a step ahead of at least Kalu and Samu….but he’s only coming in as a newcomer into the team, meaning those 2 still have an edge over him having been in the team much longer. Moreover, Rohr is not the type to experiment with crucial qualifiers even if we are playing Solomon Islands….knowing fully well that it will take time and games for new players to build the required chemistry with the rest of the team, irrespective of their status with their various clubs.
These things are not rocket science….but how some people manage not to understand them beats my imagination.
But the advantage of all these is that every player that wears that jersey now knows that if they screw up, there’s someone out there waiting to screw them up further….while those who are out there are just praying for half a chance….just half a chance to tie down a place in that team. So he who has ears let them hear.
Getting an invitation to the SE nowadays is becoming a luxury. Thanks to insistence of merit and not influence of agents and godfathers. And that is why all of them have seemed to buckle up and tightened their belts at their various clubs.
Our next match will be later this month and the list has not even been released…???
So why this hue and cry when the list of invitees hasn’t been released…?? Why not wait for the list to be made public first.
I don’t think anyone is crying here but just stating the facts!
People talk as if it’s not the same oga Rohr that we know who’s conservative in nature typical German mentality, I live in Austria so I know what I’m saying. Just like you said above let’s wait for the list but I’m sure it will be the same as usual.
By the way why do you mention kalu and samu as the only wingers ejuke is better than currently?What of Musa?
Hahahaha….what has your living in Austria got to do with what we are saying…? LMAO. Congratulations for living in Austria….I didn’t know one needs to live in Austria to know that Germans are naturally conservative.
Rohr may have a conservative mentality, but even in his conservativeness,he has given close to 40 players their national team debuts and never ceases to invite anyone who is doing well for their clubs once there is a space for such.
But what point is there to invite players when there’s no space for them yet..? And latter critics will you will accuse him of not giving new invitees enough chance, knowing quiet well he doesn’t toy with his qualifiers, neither do we play enough friendly to trial out every player and give them ample times to settle well.
Even if chidera gets invited today, bar any injuries or loss of form to the other wingers, he wouldn’t start…unless he is Cristiano Messi. Notwithstanding, the best time he could have been invited this season is now bcos up till November last year when his club blocked his suiting up for the dream team, the current wingers in the SE were performing excellently for both clubs and country
It has been in the public space for long that the likes of Chidera, Dessers and Umar have caught the eye but the coach cannot invite 23 attacking players at a go, neither can he invite 8 wingers when only 3 will get to play, neither can he discard the ones who have been getting the job done for someone entirely new to the team.
Everyone will have their time: to either keep their shirt, or convince the coach they are worthy of subsequent invitations, or be left out outrightly.
Chidera’s time will come. But before the discovery of maize, the chicken has been feeding on something.
Hold you guns and wait for the March list to be released.
Q: “….why do you mention kalu and samu as the only wingers ejuke is better than currently?What of Musa?…”
A: If I have mentioned our 1st choice wingers since after AFCON, why do I need to mention Musa…?
People like @omo9ja may have your time, I don’t have it ooh abeg me know all.
*Mr know all
Hahahaha….Mr I don’t know anything.
Mr I live in Austria. LMAO
I just watched some highlights of this Zirkzee, I think he plays with a high level of technical awareness for one so young.
The 3-touches-3-goals super sub brings a lot to the table in the way of his calmness under pressure and all roung mature play.
If efforts to pure him to the Super Eagles family proves successful, I think he would be another quality addition to the squad.
Correction : **if efforts to lure him***
I think every fan are just stating the obvious fact of the state of players currently doing well in Europe. I’m pretty sure that most of Rohr dependable players will be invited with room for one or two new players doing well in Europe based on extensive scouting. Since he took over the mantle of the SuperEagles there has always been at least one new player on his lists. Therefore, extending an invitation to a player like Ejuke at this stage of his career shouldn’t be a bad idea.
Though, I would always leave the players list to the coach; there is always space for improvement. Timing is everything. You always go for your best at the point in time. Football is not played in past tense, it is always on the ascendancy.
International football doesn’t really give you the chance to have trials. You go by club form and take your chance on that play proven to form; not for anything but for limited time in the international scene.
It is up to the players to take their chance (or not) when given.
We all expect everyone called upon to the national team is the best of the best and professional, so they should always be able to do what professionals do.make their mark or lose their chance. It is always a make or mar moment with the national team. Friendly match or important match. If a player is on the ascendancy in the club side, he should always be given the chance to represent his country, especially when he is better than those there, even if it they have been there before him. A legend is born the day the king dies. You never know till you try.and the best place to know,is in the deep end.
There is a reason the Europeans are doing away with needless friendly matches and sticking to the new improved European league system,and the whole world is buying into it.Even the concacaf zone.
Most European nations(South Americans too) always stick to form rather than names. You are always called up as long as you are in form and better than the man there before you. Cause they always want to improve. It doesn’t mean they are throwing those losing their space away, it only means they stick to form.
I believe we all know who is in form right now,as it relates to those eligible to play for the Super Eagles. We would always have our core and definitely our balance but there is always space for improvement.
I apologise mentioning names but Onuachu,Ramon Azeez, Mikel Agu and Bryan Idowu should easily be replaced by Ejuke, Dessers,Etebo and Balogun.
It isn’t rocket science.
But I leave the job to Rohr.
Nice comment
Good to know that we all know the players who are in form and vice versa. The other realistic fact is that Rohr has always called up his players based on their form at that moment and on merit. Etebo and Balogun have always been with the team so their recall shouldn’t raise any highbrow since they’re both currently playing week in week out. As long they both stay fit they’ve always been part of the current SuperEagles. Ejuke and Dessers based on eligibility and current form should be handed their debut, but like you said I will leave it to the gaffer. However, from the way both Ejuke and Dessers have been playing so far this season their invitation to the SuperEagles is imminent.
Good comment but I disagree with you on Azeez. He is doing well in la Liga.
On current form, Ejuke is performing better than Kalu.
Well it seems oga GR is ok with our defence. Soonest England will fire another blow. Ok,lets say we have good forwards but we are yet come out of the fact that we lost Tammy.how many options do we have on the left full back? And Saka is going……going…. secondly are there no keepers with Niaja blood? I knw Okoye, Uzoho, are there….forget the other 2.(calamity Akpaye and Ezenwa)