Former Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye has praised Akor Adams for his pivotal role in Nigeria's impressive campaign at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Soccernet.ng reports.
Adams has emerged as one of the standout performers in coach Eric Chelle's setup during the ongoing AFCON.
Despite making his debut just two months ago, he has taken to international football like a duck to water, forming a brilliant partnership with Galatasaray star Victor Osimhen.
So far in Morocco, the 25-year-old striker — who turns 26 at the end of the month — has contributed one goal and two assist for the Super Eagles.
Although the Sevilla man has traditionally been an out-and-out striker, he has sacrificed his natural game to play behind or alongside Osimhen.
Consequently, he has frequently dropped deep or drifted in from the wing, executing the role with remarkable brilliance.
His current contribution is strikingly similar to the role Ideye played in 2013, the last time the Super Eagles lifted the AFCON trophy.
During that tournament, the late coach Stephen Keshi deployed the former West Brom man behind a red-hot Emmanuel Emenike, a partnership that proved highly successful.
Super Eagles: Brown Ideye Sees Himself in Akor Adams
In a recent interview, Ideye noted that he sees a bit of himself in Adams due to the similarities in their tactical sacrifices for the national team.
He also revealed that they maintain regular contact, with Ideye often offering advice on how to handle the issues or pressures concerning the Super Eagles.
“We are very close… He sacrificed his position for Osimhen because he is not a winger…”
Brown Ideye reveals what he told Akor Adams before the AFCON. https://t.co/3VDnU7VgP5 pic.twitter.com/2BpkLRj2T7
— @ (@OneJoblessBoy) January 10, 2026
“We are very close. I don’t like to use the word ‘my boy' because when you say it, it sounds somehow. So we are very close, even before he got his first call-up for the national team,” Ideye told Athlst.
“The first call-up he got, that he was not among the 25-man list, I told him, I said: ‘Look, just go back to your club and keep working hard. Your time will come'.
“When he got the second call-up and he was included, but he didn’t have playing time, I told him to get himself prepared. His time will come.
“So finally, when I saw his name on the final list of the players going to the Nations Cup, I told him to put his name there. Let people speak, let people say something positive about him. The first thing should be the team, and the second, you.
“He's that type of player that has flair, that can assist and that can score goals. And he sacrificed his position for Osimhen, because he's not a winger. He's a point striker like me.
“Just like what I did in the 2013 Nations Cup. I'm a point striker. Late Stephen Keshi called me to his room and asked me to play from the flank, because he wanted to play Emmanuel Emenike and me.
“I accepted it. I said, ‘Coach, anything that you want to do that you think would be better for this team, I don’t have anything against you'. And we won the AFCON.
“That's what he's doing at the moment. Sacrificing his position, putting himself in a position that he has never played.
“He told me, he had never played from the flank in my entire career”. And look at what he's doing. And I have never played from the flank. Playing in that 2013 Nations Cup was the first time that I was playing from the flank.
“A lot of people think that I'm a winger. I'm not a winger, I'm a striker. So I sacrificed my position just to make sure that the team succeeded.”
Adams will be hoping to continue shining for the Super Eagles as they target a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco.
Up next for the team is a tough game against Algeria in the quarterfinal of the competition. Adams will likely start for Nigeria alongside his striker partner Victor Osimhen.
