Images of the Super Eagles coach visiting the Super Eagles players in England have been spotted on all social media platforms, eliciting several responses.
The Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, has now revealed the rationale for his trip to England.
He claims that the purpose of the trip is for him to see his players' routines and have conversations with their managers and fitness trainer.
English players who have recently been called up include Wilfried Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho from Leicester, Emmanuel Dennis and Taiwo Awoniyi from Nottingham Forest, Brentford's Frank Onyeka, Everton's Alex Iwobi , and Joe Aribo from Southampton.
The former Porto coach said that reaching out to these players is one of his longer-term plan initiatives for the Super Eagles.
March would mark the beginning of international friendlies, and Peseiro has lost no time in beginning to monitor his players' club matches, just as any other seasoned coach does.
However, there are several images of him alongside other players, including Awoniyi, when he received the player of the match award after Nottingham's 1-1 draw with Chelsea. After seeing him watch a lot of Premier League games, this became the subject of discussion among Nigerian football enthusiasts.
In his interview with The Mirror, the Portuguese man made clear why he visited England.
He explains, “This is part of the longer plan,”
“It’s my strategy to see for myself our players in training, in practice and it’s important I speak with the coaches, with the fitness coaches, also.
“I watched seven matches and I was at three practices to observe, to stay in contact with the players and speak with them. It’s different and it’s important I understand what they do there.
“I had good meetings with the coaches, shared some points about our players because normally we are not with them for too much time, but the club coach works with them for more time and can advise me or speak to me with more objectivity about what they can do.”
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have won only twice in their last five games under Peseiro, which puts more pressure on the 62-year-old manager when they play Guinea-Bissau in March.
