The former Nigerian international has an impressive CV just over a decade after switching playing for coaching
Ex-Barcelona winger Emmanuel Amuneke has responded to reports linking him with the vacant Super Eagles coaching job.
Officially, the senior national team is presently without a substantive head coach.
Augustine Eguavoen took over as interim boss when German tactician Gernot Rohr was sacked in December. But Eguavoen stepped down from that role immediately after the Eagles’ premature elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations, reverting to his position as the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation.
The NFF had in late December announced the appointment of Portuguese manager Jose Peseiro, with the former Sporting Lisbon gaffer expected to take over after the Afcon.
But Peseiro is yet to be unveiled even with the Afcon concluded and Senegal emerging as champions of the continent.
It is looking increasingly unlikely that the Portuguese will become the Eagles’ head coach, with reports suggesting that Eguavoen has been offered the job permanently with Amuneke to support him.
But the former Zamalek forward has poured cold water on the stories, insisting that no one from the federation has contacted him concerning any offer.
“I’m not aware of any appointment with the Super Eagles or any job with the Nigerian government,” Amuneke told the Sun Sports.
“I just returned to my base in Spain from the CAF Technical Study Group duty at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, and I read the story of my appointment from the Internet.
“I was in the team’s hotel in Cameroon countless times, and there was no time the appointment was discussed with me.
“Right now, nobody has contacted me, not even the NFF or the Sports Ministry. Until an offer is made, I will rather not talk on that.”
Amuneke began coaching in 2008 after bringing an end to a 13-year playing career.
The 51-year-old handled Julius Berger and Ocean Boys before taking charge of the Golden Eaglets, leading the cadet team to win the 2015 FIFA u-17 World Cup.
Amuneke then guided Tanzania to qualify for their second-ever appearance at the Afcon in Egypt 2019.
This post was last modified on February 7, 2022 12:48 pm
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NFF should please appoint Amunike as the coach of the super eagles. Equavoen can work under Him as Assistant coach. We also need a good goalkeeper trainer like Ike Shuronmu and Vincent Enyeama
I'll prefer Amunike to be Super Eagles next coach and Peter Rufai as a goal keeper trainer instead of Alloy Agu who has no good goal keeping record. I pray NFF will put things right on time as we have a very restricted time to play Ghana.