The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has explained the reason behind his visit to the training ground of newly promoted English Premier League side Watford, the club that has as many as six Nigerians on their books.
Watford recently signed Nigerian trio of Oghenekaro Etebo, Dennis Emmanuel and Dapo Mebude to swell the Nigerians on their books to seven in number.
The others are Isacc Success, Tom Dele Bashiru, Joseph Hungbo and Willam Troost Ekong. Pinnick during the course of his visit had a photo shoot with six of the players.
He posed with Dapo, Dele Bashiru, Ekong, Etebo and Dennis before snapping another with Success in a separate photo which also had the technical director of the club Cristiano Giaretta.
Explaining the reason behind the move, Pinnick said his visit was mainly to witness the first training session of Etebo and also build a strong relationship with the club with three senior national team players on their books.
“ I visited the training centre of Watford FC to witness the first official training of our Super Eagles midfielder, my fellow Warri Boy, Oghenekaro Etebo, our prolific and versatile midfield player. I had also had an interaction with the Club Technical Director, Mr Cristiano Giaretta”, he said.
“Emphasis was that we have potentially five Super Eagles players in Watford FC, but now only three regular players so the NFF needs to build a stronger relationship with Watford. He was truly excited in affirmation of our request. I am scheduled to meet with the Club President and CEO in the next few weeks.
“We Will also meet with the CEO of Leicester, Everton et al in the coming weeks. By His Grace our World Cup qualification is not negotiable”, he concluded.