Head coach of high flying German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen has given Nigerians an idea of what to expect from newly invited Super Eagles winger Nathan Tella, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports .
The 24 year old was handed his first call up to the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where Nigeria will take on Lesotho on the 16th of November before taking on Zimbabwe three days later in Kigali.
Born in England to parents of Nigerian descent, Tella joined the German side in the summer after an extraordinary year with Burnley in the English Championship, where he spent last season on loan from Southampton.
He scored 17 goals in 39 games to help the team gain promotion and was widely expected to be signed permanently but a difference in valuation led to a breakdown in talks, opening the door for Leverkusen to sign him.
Although he is yet to hit the same height like he did with Burnley, he has however shown enough to earn praises from coach of the team Xabi Alonso, who was full of praises over his qualities after his first league goal for the team in their 4-0 win over Union Berlin yesterday.
‘Nathan is a player that has the ability to just do the right thing, be in the right place, he has the quality to be in the box and makes the right runs. In Nigeria they have great strikers and maybe they could use good wingers. He’s a really nice guy with a strong mentality, he has a great attitude”, he said after yesterday’s win.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
