Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has described Bayern Munich’s youngster Joshua Zirkzee as a fantastic talent but admits it will be tough to convince the striker to play for the three-time African champions.
Zirkzee, who was born in the Netherlands is of Nigerian descent.
The 19-year-old has however played for the Netherlands at the youth level.
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“There is also Zirkzee of Bayern Munich, he’s a fantastic talent also but he’s playing already for Holland and it’s not easy to have them,” Rohr told Colin Udoh in an Instagram chat.
“They must give us the sign to come, we are here and we show them there is hope for them and if they want to play in the World Cup and AFCON with us they are welcome but they must decide.”
Zirkzee, who left the Feyenoord academy in his native Netherlands to join the Bayern Munich academy in mid-2017, has scored three goals in seven Bundesliga appearances this season.
17 Comments
Yes boss, they must give us the sign, they must decide first. Then we will show them there is hope to play for us both in AFCON and World cup.
We don’t need Amaju to be taking picture with them first and then we hear I’m taking my time to decide or I want to concentrate on my club for now, like he did with Tammy and Eze.
Ride on coach and get the Best & willing Nigerians to join the flight.
Hahahaha….Amaju the NFF President, NFF PRO, NFF head of Legal department, NFF head of technical department and NFF chief Scout..! One man riot squad….Lolz.
The way he brags about being close friends to the fathers of some of these foreign borns, hence guaranteeing their unrestricted availability for us can be so hilarious. Pinnick started well but seems to have started dinning with some really clueless fellows of late. Thanks to Hon. Dare who is beginning to help us knock sense into him and his crew.
Are u sure picnic is not omo9ja ( the self made chief Scout of the eagles)? ¿? Lol…. Just wondering bcs they have a lot of similarities like snapping pics with the fathers and forefathers of these guys and then come here to tell us that it was he that discovered them. Lol…. What a mystery….
@Oakfield, ahahah. So, omo9ja is Mr. Amaju now abi? This is very funny o lolz.
Everything is all about omo9ja. Ah, I’m still laughing. So funny lol. Oh well. Happy new month my people. God bless us all. God bless Nigeria!!!
Good one, no player is bigger or greater than Nigeria, if you want to play you show the willingness then u get the invitation. No one will start rolling on the floor for any foreign born
They would not see this one where rohr has said that any body who wants to play for the eagles must make that decision himself and not us begging him like picnic has done in the past. Those that usually say that rohr is lilly livered, lacks self confidence bla bla bla won’t come out and talk rubbish now. The point is, there is so much hatred against rohr and that’s why whatever he says is usually taken out of context and twisted to suit their wicked foolish positions or perspectives. We know u all but despite all this, God will continue to make a way for that man (as usual) who means well for our team. They have set what appears to be tough targets for him but he will deliver as usual by the Grace of God and the next thing they’d resort to is winning (as a condition to remain on the job after he must have won the afcon) the world cup which I believe is possible . You can’t curse whom God has blessed, its not possible. God will continue to prepare a table before him in the presence of his enemies as always.
Very reasonable and nice approach by the coach.
Nigeria should always be first choice and not an after thought.
Waiting for the negative people to come and tell us there are bigger talents in Npfl.
They will tell us rohr is not a good scout.
The worst of them will come and tell us he was the one scouting Zirkzee for us.
Leave him,if he is not ready
The SE in the last 4 years has graduated from being a mediocre team to being highly feared and respected. SE players have graduated from Turkish league quality to Top 5 leagues quality under Rohr’s watchful supervision. Players now beg to play for us. No brats will be begged to play for Nigeria.
https://www.owngoalnigeria.com/2020/06/01/rohr-explains-when-german-nigerian-defenders-torunarigha-uduokhai-will-likely-switch-to-nigeria-rules-out-akpoguma/
_ Who needs Who? _
Whichever way you want to look at it, it is highly unlikely that Russian born Brian Idowu would have attended a Fifa World Cup whilst the chances of Ola Aina ever kitting for England is remote at best. Yet, at of the time of typing the Southwark born full back is already an Africa Cup of Nations bronze medallist.
“There is hope for them (dual nationality players)” said Rohr. “And if they want to play in the World Cup and AFCON with us they are welcome.”
It must be recalled that after becoming a Nigeria International, the club fortunes of dual nationalities players often see remarkable upturn: Idowu signed for Lokomotive Moscow, Ebuehi signed for Benfica while Ola Aina’s move to the glamorous Italian league coincided with him becoming a Super Eagles International (having been loaned to a club in the English Championship severally).
Now, I hear that goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is in the cusp of leaving Sunday league football for the big time in a higher division league which leads me to think that who needs who? No player has ever seen their fortune dwindle after representing Nigeria.
These players need the Super Eagles of Nigeria just as much as our national team needs them.
So, as much as it is a good idea to lure the best legs to play for Nigeria, the Super Eagles is such a premium self sufficient brand that we should never be seen ‘plead’ with anyone to play for Nigeria.
“They (dual nationality players) must give us the sign to come; they are welcome but they must decide, ” said Gernot Rohr which I wholeheartedly endorse.
The approach to this matter must be structured: reach to a dual nationality player, give them a reasonable time to respond, accept their response (if either lukewarm or no) and move on. If the truth be told, I strongly believe that it is possible for Nigeria to put out a team with just a handful of dual nationality players (like in the days of Odewingie and Victor Moses) and still be hugely successful – so I don’t know why we seem to have become very desperate all of a sudden.
Zirkzee is a promising talent no doubt. If he elects to hitch his wagon to the Super Eagles star, fine, if not, the national team will still go places and achieve things with those willing and passionate to put on the Green White Green like Aribo and Co.
As Rohr puts it, this is a team that is a always a contender for Afcon trophies and World Cup participation (with the realistic possibilities of reaching the quarter finals).
The choice is theirs.
No Matter what happens in NL, we still have talents in the country.
Some times, it is very hard to swallow and I’m asking myself what brought us to this level?
Is that how our League so bad that the national coach of the main team of Nigeria couldn’t discovered a single player? if the coach of the Super Eagles can not discover one or two players in Nigeria then, what is the point?
Are you people not seeing what I’m seeing?
Is the coach getting the results,yes. But what is the impact of not scouting for more talents in the country will have on our national teams and the future of our football in Nigeria?
No1. NL will never developed.
No2. The spirit i want to do more will not be there for local players to put more effort.
No3. The mentality is going to be there, if you don’t go abroad to play, coach Rohr won’t invite you.
I’m still wondering where did coach Amunike of yesterday discovered Osimeh, Chukwueze and Uzoho that the German coach is using today?
It is quite unfortunate that NFF are not paying attention to coach Rohr.
Can we call this laziness or he’s the way of doing his own things?
He loves ready made players and if i may ask, people should just give me one player that the manager discovered by himself?
There are two things the German tactician good at, man management and using the foriegn based players to play for Nigeria.
Nothing wrong with that and I’m not an agent but as a Nigerian, coach Rohr is changing the structure and the orientation of our system by telling us that our League is nothing to write home about and nothing good will come out of the league forgetting that Osimeh and Chukwueze were local made products that will take the world by storm in few years to come. Does he have to go abroad before he can build us a solid team? Absolutely no.
My brothers and sisters on this forum, it is high time we put our hearts together and use one voice to talk to the NFF and the sports minister to do something about our League.
I am very sure of this though, no matter how NL may good, the gaffer will never used our local Boys and they have no chance to play for the Eagles as long as coach Rohr is stillaround. That is the reality of the scenario.
Hmm. Furthermore, the purpose of bringing this issue up today is about the “headline” and over the 3 years of Mr. Rohr, he has managed to put the players together to formed a team. But is that going to help us to develop more talents in the country?
If coach Amunike has the same mentality like Oga Rohr, where would Osimeh and Chukwueze would have bn today?
Maybe they will be selling pure water and cold tea on the roads.
If the coach have won us Afcon, did really well at the world cup then, i can say he has a good point of using the foriegn based players but winning Bronze medals at the Afcon in Egypt and with the result we saw in Russia, I’m very sorry for our African leaders.
Mr. Amaju even went to the UK to bagged Tammy Abraham to play for Nigeria while we have millions of talented players in the country shouting and praying to God to have mercy so that NFF president can also come their side like he did to Abraham.
Did he, Mr. Pinnick thinking of seeing our local players just for once? And we are expecting Oga Rohr to do more?
If you don’t put your house in place, this is what you get.
Oga Rohr should please have a rethink and follow Westerhof’s footsteps. He can also build his own players. He should stop relying on foriegn based players because sometimes, it is very hard for any club side to release their players to come and play for any national team. If that happens, what is Mr. Rohr going to do? He should also learn from coach Eguavon.
We may not understand what I’m talking today because the German tactician is getting results but as time goes on, you people will remember me ÓMÓ9JA.
I would like to stop here day because many of us hate the truth. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
for the first time in your life omo
9ja you have a point… But the truth is that he has discovered players and they end up travelling to Europe… Because he has to discover the best and the best loves to pray abroud, he said it him self… I have called more than 15 local prayers to the super eagles and before you know it they end up signing for clubs in Europe…he will invite another one again… From local leagues here they go…somtimes it is not Rorh fault all good players in the local leagues wants to play abroad, even the Sunday Mba ended up in the second division in France as good as he is… So you will not blame him entirely.
@Nigeria Bebeto, so you think all these your explanations, Omo9ja hasn’t heard them before? Even if he says yes to you today, come back tomorrow he’ll still be against you on this same matter.
@Omo9ja, I tot u are a great scout, Oya Scout some players out of Naija league too. Even if u can find those that are better than Shehu and Onuachu.
Omo9ja. Shebi you’re the one who discovered all the foreign base players Rohr is calling into the SuperEagles. Did Osimhen and Chukwueze ever played in NPFL?? Abi you forgot that Amunike owns an academy?? I guess Amunike went around the NPFL to find Osimhen and Chukwueze. This are players from the NFF U13, U15 national teams where the likes of Ndidi, Iheanacho, Awoniyi, Success and Moses Simon all came through. Uzoho was a product of Aspire Academy in Qatar.
Thank God we have a coach who quickly identified their talents and make them the bulk of the current SuperEagles. These are raw talents from various Nigerian academies that won back to back U17 WorldCup for Nigeria and now forming the nucleus of the current SuperEagles, with a combination of talented dual nationality players willing to dawn the green and white of the SuperEagles.
You’ve been hyping Okoye for his possible move to the Eredivise, but I can recall you never liked the idea to hand him a call up when he was playing in German Fourth division. You and your cohorts were blaming the coach for calling up a goalkeeper from German fourth division instead of finding a goalkeeper from the NPFL. All of a sudden now that he’s moving to a bigger club you became the one who discovered him. LMAO!!! Wonders shall never end.
The coach himself had invited players from the NPFL over the last 3 years. However, he realized that agents and regressive people’s Congress are the one behind their clamoring for a call up to the SuperEagles. I implore you to READ this; https://www.owngoalnigeria.com/2020/06/01/agents-want-to-use-super-eagles-to-sell-npfl-players-rohr/
Hehehehehe…ehen Omo9ja the Super Scout, we have millions of talent in the NPFL…? But since over 4 years now you have not been able to scout 1 single player from the NPFL for Oga Rohr….cant you see that you are a failure. Its so easy for you to “discover& scout” foreign based players after reading about them on allnigeriasoccer.com and watching them play in champions league and europa league, the the NPFL that is at your backyard, you cant discover 1 single player for us in 4 years….haba, section 419 of your consitutions say a fi e je oye awodi o le gbe adiye. 4 solid years, yet not 1 single player from a world class scout…abi na scouter sef, like you. What a shame.
All those millions of talented players in the NPFL, why didnt 1 or 2 of them make it to our U20, U23 or CHAN Eagles….?? Or was it Rohr that is selecting players for those teams too…? Are the coaches of those teams not Nigerian Coaches from the same NPFL…??? Haba my dear brother….I love you so much but your are failing Nigerians. You are not a good scouter at all…aha…you are supposed to look inwards the way they look inwards and formed amotekun…you see ba. You are a big failure o. Pls do you job and discover more homebased talents for us rather than discovering foreign based only. Go to Agege and Iyanapaja there are millions of talent there. Stop discovering only ready made foreign based players for us.
God bless Nigeria…Ire o..!
@Dr drey i always fall in love with ur write up.