Rivers United who? Ex-Super Eagles midfielder breaks silence amid purported NPFL move

Some past and present Super Eagles stars have returned to the NPFL over the last two years

Former Super Eagles midfielder John Ogu has rubbished talks that he will join Nigeria Professional Football League club Rivers United for next season, Soccernet.ng reports.

Over the last two years, past and present Super Eagles players have returned to the NPFL, something which was not common in previous years.

Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa joined boyhood club Kano Pillars alongside national teammate Shehu Abdullahi.

We can confirm that an agreement in principle has been reached with Super Eagles players, captain, Ahmed Musa MON and Shehu Abdullahi to join up with us for the 2024/25 football season. Both players have been included in the squad for our match against Sunshine Stars on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/Bh7Rm2qhoq

— Kano Pillars FC (@pillarsfc) October 5, 2024

Super Eagles 2013 Africa Cup of Nations hero Brown Ideye also linked up with former champions Enyimba last season.

Recently, there have been talks that Ogu would join in. Recall that the 37-year-old has been without a club since his contract at Israeli club Kabilio Jaffa expired last year.

As such, there have been talks that he will join Rivers United for the 2025/26 NPFL season.

However, Ogu has now come out to debunk the speculations. He shared a screen-muched picture of a report of him in negotiations with Rivers United and wrote, “I never spoke to anyone and nobody ever spoke to me about joining any team in NPFL.”

I never spoke to anyone and nobody ever spoke to me about joining any team in NPFL… pic.twitter.com/l6bX6SKWEH

— John Ogu (@ogujohnugo) July 23, 2025

Ogu's reply definitely means that the chances of him joining any NPFL club next season is extremely low.

What is the situation with the Super Eagles stars in the NPFL?

The top active Super Eagles stars played in the NPFL last season—Brown Ideye, Shehu Abdullahi, and Ahmed Musa. However, the status of all three is not clear going into the new season.

Ideye parted ways with Enyimba at the end of last season, and he has not been linked with any other club since then.

Meanwhile, Musa has been named the General Manager at Kano Pillars, so it is unclear if he will play next season or he will stick to administrative work. Abdullahi was also very inconsistent with the team last season, so his commitment for next season is also in the balance.