The 1994 CAF African Footballer of the Year is convinced that the duo of Heerenveen’s Chidera Ejuke and Liverpool’s Taiwo Awoniyi has shown enough quality and consistency to make the step up to the nation’s senior team.
Amuneke identifies Ejuke and Awoniyi as the two youngsters who have impressed him over the last few years, praising the Heerenveen winger for his technique and the Liverpool-owned striker for maintaining a consistently high level.
Ejuke has been one of the shining lights in the Dutch league, netting ten goals and contributing six assists to the Frisians’ cause this term. The 22-year-old is considered one of the best dribblers in the Eredivisie and has been linked with a move to champions Ajax.
Awoniyi, though, is yet to feature for his parent club Liverpool and has struggled for game time on loan at Mainz.
The Nigeria U-23 striker, however, made a telling impact last weekend, netting his first Bundesliga goal to inspire his side’s comeback draw at Cologne.
Former Barcelona winger Amuneke is impressed with how the two Nigerian lads are faring in Europe and thinks it’s time they are exposed to national team football.
“When I first saw Chidera Ejuke, it was in Kaduna when I was going around Nigeria to scout for players to make up the U-17 for 2015 edition,” Amuneke said in quotes carried by the NationSport.
“Chidera is a very good player, technically. As a young boy, you could see the technicality in him as a player, but of course, there are other aspects that must be improved, but unfortunately, he was not able to make my team due to one reason or the other which I don’t want to go into details.
“He is a very talented player. When you see him with the ball, his decision making and domination with the ball, show his quality.
On Awoniyi, he said: “Every player deserves a chance. When you have these kinds of players now, what you need to do is to expose them.
“Taiwo Awoniyi of the set of the Golden Eaglets class of 2013 is doing well also. He has done well to maintain consistency.”