Former Kwara United coach, Samson Unuanel has advised Super Eagles striker, Simone Nwankwo to join a top-flight club in Serie A in order to enhance his chances of making a comeback to the senior national team.
Recall that Simy was among the players invited for the international friendly game against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon but unforeseen circumstances forced him from making the trip to Austria.
With the summer transfer window barely a few weeks old, La Liga side, Real Betis has joined Lazio in showing early interest for record-making Nigerian striker, Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo, as reported by the Italian-based outlet TuttoMercatoWeb (via La Lazio Siamo Noi).
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Simy is coming off an excellent campaign in Serie A. The Super Eagles striker scored 20 goals for Crotone, which tied him with Lazio’s Ciro Immobile as the joint-fifth on the Serie A goalscorer’s chart.
Speaking with Completesports.com, Unuanel stated that it would be ideal for Simy to join a top club in Europe in a bid to make himself relevant in the Super Eagles ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
“Simy has really impressed me with his goalscoring performance in Serie A last season with Crotone. He’s a player that knows where the back of the post is whenever he’s giving the opportunity to do so.
“However, I think it will be wise for him to join top clubs in Europe or in the Serie A in order for him o remain in the eye of the Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.”
16 Comments
This coach Unuanel… Where was your voice when our nonplaying captain was being fielded in Super Eagles games? One stick for one player and another type for another player… Is Abdullah Shehu playing for a top club?
Hehehehe….no vex. Advise Simy to go back to Serie B with crotone instead..LMAOo. Be comparing the SE DM position where there are not many top league options to the striking position. That non playing captain became a non playing captain simply because he cancelled his $250k per week wage in Saudi Arabia to make a move back to Europe to remain in reckoning….which is about to materialize now.
Simy pls dont make a move to a top club o, biko. Go back to Serie B or if possible to Serie C….LMAOO
Is abdulahi playing in the first team? Is Musa playing in the first team. The attacking position is competitive so the best is expected. @Jimmyball it’s likely you did not think about that very well before you wrote that comment.
HE NEEDS TO ADD MORE POTENTIALS TO HIS GAME IN ORDER TO D LIKE T.MOFFI, DESSERS, NOT TO TALK ABOUT ONYEKURU ,OSINHEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggY3v7Infg
Watch youtube videos of this guy UCHE IKPEAZU. This is a guy that should be in the conversation at least when we’re talking about potential SE strikers.
Osimhen is the only striker we have that is head and shoulders better than him. He is just as good as Onuachu, Iheanacho, Simy, Moffi, Sadiq. We need to watch them all and possibly have a proper friendly, so we can determine the pecking order.
Uganda are hot on the heels of Ikpeazu, because he has a Ugandan mother. Let what happened with SEYI ADEPAYOR not repeat itself. IF WE SNOOZE, WE LOSE.
No wahala…He should go play for Uganda. Putting all the cards on the table, we already have a surplus in that position. SE needs Attacking midfielder options as we have at the Strikers.
Let him go to Uganda and it’s certain he will get less rivalry in picking up the main striker shirt.
But if he insists to play for us, he will have to wait oh! So many men are on the waiting list at that striking position already and they are
We keep saying we have strikers, yet look at our goal return in the past 10 matches. In the last 2 games against Cameroon, we couldn’t even score a single goal! And we created chances, many chances. Our attack that we think is so strong may not be that strong after all. We need to keep our options open. This guy has enough quality for me to want to see him in a friendly. If we had used him against Cameroon, he would have given their centerbacks a lot more wahala. Those guys were not troubled, the way Ighalo harassed them in the past.
If we try him, and he isn’t good enough, fine. But how do we know for sure without watching him, or trying him in a friendly?
Chris, I appreciate your genuine difference of opinion, unlike some melodramatic folks who are laughing at their own ignorance. Thanks for your comment.
Are you kidding me? If soneone like say @Jimmyball had said this, am sure most forumites wouod have bayed for his blood. What a disrespect and grave insult to seasoned Nigerian attackers out there. You mean a player who scored less than 10 goals in 40’matches for an ordinary Hearts Fc in Scotland and followed that with about 6 goals in 30+ performances for a relegated Wyconmbe in English Championship is better than Awoniyi who scored close to 10 goals in the Bundesliga (injury curtailed his season), Onuachu who plundered 33goals, Moffi 14 or so inI Ligue 1,’Simmy 20’in Seeia A??? This post is the most laughable joke of the decade!
Lmao
Don’t be melodramatic. Even if you disagree with me, must you go about it with such a histrionic response?
I said Ikpeazu should be considered. In my opinion, which I’m entitled to, I think he is good enough. He has the pace, physicality, and energy that is perfect for African football. His technique is also good, better than most of our strikers. He falls behind though in skills. Like I said in an earlier thread, he can continue where Bright Dike left off for us. Dike played in the MLS, and was not a prolific scorer there, but Keshi saw qualities in him and invited him, and he did well. So Ikpeazu may not have the goal stats that the others have, and may not play in a top league, but the qualities he has can make the SE stronger, in my opinion. Of course, final selection is up to the coaches.
If this is still funny to you, go ahead and keep laughing. Laugh your head off.
@Pompei:
I think any striker worth his salt would do well in the championship.
He has scored a grand total of 8 goals in the last two seasons, in the championship and the Scottish Premier league. Now let us imaging the following playing in those leagues: Simy, Onuachu, Dessers, Sadiq, Iheanacho they will beat even Pele’s total goal tally lol.
Big D,
We have all these strikers who are scoring truckloads of goals for their clubs, but can’t get a shot on target in the SE jersey. And we say we have quality strikers. Look at our games against Cameroon. Osimhen would have made a huge difference if he had played. But we can’t play Osimhen to death. We need other strikers to rotate in when he’s unavailable. We’ve tried Simy. He didn’t convince. We need to try him again. Onuachu, the jury is still out. Iheanacho, you saw him against Cameroon. Sadiq and Dessers look more promising to me, but again they’ve not been given enough chances. So this idea that we’re covered in the attack to me is an illusion. We need strikers that are goal threats. Strikers that score goals. And we should keep searching until we find 2 or 3 more to join Osimhen.
The next time we play an international, and our “deadly” strike force are firing blanks, and making defenders look like they are on holiday, I will remind folks of the time we had a chance to try Ikpeazu and missed it because he is a championship striker. Or worse, Uganda will cap him, and Ikpeazu that we rejected without giving a chance will now come back to haunt us.
If we look closer at the SE situation vis a vis the Cameroon game, Dessers was completely eclipsed by Onuachu. No coach in the world would drop a striker that scored 30+ goals for one whom was scoring 12-15. Lets not forget that Paul also scored in his last two competitive matches for the SE (against Benin and Lesotho).
Sadiq was withheld for the Cameroon matches by his club. Terem Moffi was making his debut and thoroughly deserved the callup ahead of Ikpeazu and Dessers.
Iheanacho and Onuachu were our number one and number two strikers in that squad on merit. That squad was scrambled together with last minute additions and subtractions. It was a very haphazard callup process given that it was a “non FIFA window”.
No way in the world should we be calling up a striker whom had just been relegated to the English third division having scored 6 goals all season over strikers in Premier league clubs with double digit goals (he has scored a grand total of 8 goals in two seasons – Championship and Scottish PL), even midfielder Aribo outscored him in the same leagues. No way at all can that be justified.
I am also sure that given time to settle in Terem will come good, Dessers also will get his chance, he has shown himself to be relevant even whilst playing second fiddle to Paul.
There are others also ahead of Ikpeazu, I’ll mention Taiwo Awoniyi whom was injured at the end of last season and Ike Ugbo.
However, we can only have three strikers in any given squad and I am confident that Ikpeazu will not come back to bite us. He is 26 and by the time we face Uganda again, after next world cup at the earliest, he will probably be close to 30 and entering the twilight of his career whilst our 22 and 23 year old strikers (Victor, Taiwo, Kelechi, Moffi) will be between 25 and 27, at the peak of their careers ably supported by Uche’s agemates Dessers, Sadiq
Dont mind that Pompei guy. Am sure he just stumbled on Ikpeazu’s edited video and wont let us hear word. I know Ikpeazu when he was in his 20s. No good striker anywhere will escape the searchlights of elite football scouts. Mahrez and Ngolo Kante were spotted playing for League 2 clubsides by churning out good statistics. Imagine @Pompei claiming Ikpeazu was better than other strikers bar Osimhen. Now citing a disjointed friendly against Cameroon. If you were Deschamp, you will never invite Giroud who never had one shot on tsrget at the last world cup yet played all the matches. Infact you will send Kane home and bring Patrick Bamford for failing to score in England’s first 3 matches at the Euros. Awoniyi, Moffi, Simmy, Onuachu, Kelechi, Sadiq and even an Olayinka who’s deployed as a winger have each 10 or more goals in each seaon in all competitions in the last two seaons and for better clubs in better leagues bar Sodiq!
@Pompei’s Ikpeazunaldo on the other hand hasnt managed ordinary 8 goals per season in the seasons under review.
He now calls my response melodramatic but relishes making a mockery of any posts by others thst he doesnt agree with. The fact that most of us hardly comment doesn’t mean we dont follow what happens here
I don’t subscribe to the idea that we should stop looking at other strikers because of the ones we currently have competing for jerseys. For the simple reason that only one of the many strikers is proven, Osimhen. If we had 2, or 3 other proven strikers, then I would be more comfortable. As it stands, the striking jerseys are up for grabs, and we should look at as many prospects as possible.
If English comprehension is Mahmud’s problem, then I want to reiterate that I never insisted that Ikpeazu be in the final squad, or start games. So unfortunately, BigD, your arguments are in the wrong direction. I’m saying he has a right to being looked at. If the handlers determine he is not good enough, fine. I said this repeatedly in my previous threads. At the end of the day, if the strikers we finally select disappoint us in major tournaments, na all of us go suffer am together. No be only me. And if they deliver goals, we will all enjoy it together.
So once again, I have no interest in Ikpeazu’s invitation, other than the chance that he might solve our striker problem. We have a multitude of strikers, but only one proven, reliable one, Osimhen, which is not good, especially going into major tournaments. Whether we like it or not, this is a problem, and it is up to us to fix our problem.
BigD, from your point of view, Bright Dike would never have gotten his chance if it was up to you. He played in the MLS, so he does not check the BIG LEAGUE box. He was not a prolific scorer either. Yet, look how he performed for us!
Need I remind you of his goals against Italy and Catalonia (Spain), and his other exploits in the SE jersey? Dike proved to be one of the most productive strikers we ever had! So while stats are very useful in judging a player’s ability, they are just a guide, and can be very misleading. With all due respect, look at Onuachu’s stats vs his performance for the SE. That is just one of numerous examples.
The handlers are in a better position to identify players that possess qualities this current team needs. They should look at as many strikers as possible, including Ikpeazu, and select the best fit. We can’t afford to go into future major tournaments with only one reliable striker.
As for Mahud, you accuse me of something you are also guilty of – making fun of other people’s opinions that are different from yours. I am amazed at your pettiness.
You’ve obviously been waiting on the wings for your chance to attack me, and you seized it with both hands and legs when the opportunity came. Only you got your facts wrong. I never advocated for Ikpeazu to be in our final squad. Never. Please don’t put words in my mouth. Resist your burning urge to attack and ridicule me, and take the time to read and understand my post first.