I don’t need average players – Eagles coach

OCTOBER 18, 2013 

Stephen Keshi

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi insists that the door remains open for new players to come into the Super Eagles, but says it will take “very high quality” to dislodge any of his current players.

“It’s going to be very hard,” Keshi told KickOffNigeria.com. “Anybody that wants to break into the team now must be a very tangible player.

“He must have a very great thing for us that he is bringing into the team to make the team much better.

“The door is not closed, there are a lot of Nigerian players out there that have not gotten the opportunity to play, I have not seen them.

“But if there’s anybody coming into the team, he must be a very high quality player.”

The likes of Dinamo Kyiv’s Haruna Lukman, Kilmarnock’s Gabriel Reuben and Hull City’s Sone Aluko are knocking on the door and Keshi says they will get a chance to prove their quality.

“In every department of the Eagles, we need competition and we need players who can bring that competition.

“If Lukman is doing so well, we will bring him in. We have people like (Gabriel) Rueben and Sone Aluko, who are doing well too, so why not we will bring all of them in?

They are all Nigerians and they want to play and it’s a blessing for me and for the team,” Keshi said.