Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr says Nigeria’s best players are abroad as he hits back at demands to use Nigerian-based stars

Rohr says he cannot find players in the local leagues that are better than the ones abroad.

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has insisted that Nigeria’s best players are the ones who play abroad as he continues to push back on the demands on him to use Nigerian-based players.

All through his stint as Super Eagles boss, Rohr has shown not be a fan of Nigerian-based players as the majority of the players he picks are the ones who play abroad.

The demand for him to use local-based players has increased as even the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently revealed that the Franco-German will be more home-based players if he agrees to remain as coach.

Rohr, however, has hit back at those demands as he keeps insisting that Nigeria’s best players are the ones abroad.

“We cannot find all the time players in the local league who are better than the other ones,” Rohr told ESPN.

“The criterion for us, the first criteria is the quality of the players. Everybody knows, not only in Nigeria, that the best players are in Europe or somewhere else in professional leagues. That is the fact.

“I invited already more than 23 or 24 local players since I have been in charge of the Super Eagles but we invite them and then immediately they are going to Europe. It is wonderful for them but maybe not for us.”

For Rohr, the failure of the home-based Super Eagles for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) is another evidence that they are not good enough.

Instead, Rohr has called on the NFF to develop academies who will help discover the best young players from Nigeria.

“I think they should also look at the academy to find the best young players. This could be a new chapter of this next future,” the coach said.

Amaju-Pinnick says Rohr will be forced to focus more on the local leagues with some stipulations in his next contract

Rohr’s push back comes following NFF boss Pinick’s revelation that it has been stipulated in the contract extension offer to the coach that he must stay in Nigeria and show more interest in the local leagues.

Although he is keen to remain as Super Eagles boss, Rohr is yet to reveal if he will accept the contract with those terms.