Portuguese manager, Jose Peserio has been appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the substantive coach for the senior male national team, Super Eagles
Peseiro was supposed to have been appointed last month but a disagreement between the ministry for youth and sports and the (NFF) delayed his appointment as Amaju Pinnick made a strong case for the Portuguese to be employed even when the Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare raised an objection
The ministry through the minister wanted the NFF to give all shortlisted candidates equal chance via interviews to stake a claim for the job as opposed to the decision by the NFF to appoint Peseiro because his terms happen to be the most affordable.
NFF had to conduct another round of interviews via zoom with the trio of Philip Cocu, Laurent Blanc and Ernesto Valverde but in the end, stuck with the decision to appoint Peseiro.
The aforementioned trio asked for salaries above what the NFF is proposing and none seemed committed to the demand of spending more time in Nigeria aside from Peseiro.
After deliberation with the minister for sports, Peseiro was unanimously agreed on by both parties as the best for the team. He will be required to immediately meet up with the team at the end of the month in the United States of America when they take on Mexico and Ecuador respectively in two high profile international friendly games.
It will be recalled that the Super Eagles had been without a full-time manager since December 2021, following the sacking of Gernot Rohr.
There has been an outcry over the delayed appointment of a coach for the team, with the 2023 AFCON qualifiers set to begin next month, but Pinnick confirmed the Eagles would get a new coach latest Thursday, after meeting with sports minister, Sunday Dare, on Monday.
While it was learnt that Peseiro is the leading candidate for the job, several other big names like former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde, ex-PSG and France coach Laurent Blanc, former PSV Eindhoven manager Phillip Cocu and former Sampdoria and Cagliari manager Walter Zenga, were touted as possible candidates for the vacant Eagles head coach position.
The Minister, though accepted the choice of Peseiro, he was not comfortable with the preference of two foreign assistants by the coach.
The Minister, the source said, wanted at least two Nigerians as the immediate assistants to Peseiro but the NFF assured him that two home-based coaches had already been pencilled down to work with the new technical team.
Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro has reached an agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for a monthly salary of $50,000 (about N20.950, 000) to coach the Super Eagles.
