The influx of foreign based players of Nigerian descent into the national team is seen as a blessing by many who feel that now, the players making up the Super Eagles will not be just players with raw talent but technical ability and a better understanding of the game given their early exposure to academies in Europe. Over the years, Nigerian players have shown that talents abound in their numbers amongst the most populous black nations on earth. One could even casino that the next great talent at the youth level would emerge from Nigeria. The football world still talks about the great exploits by some recognisable legends of the game that came out of Nigeria to take the world by storm on the big stage. The likes of JJ Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Finidi George, Celestine Babayaro, Odion Ighalo, John Obi Mikel, Emmanuel Amunike and a host of others have all played for some of the biggest clubs in the world, making great impact in their respective clubs. However, despite the exploits of these men, one thing that had been a serious concern for Nigerian players was their technical abilities, hence, transiting from the junior competitions where they excelled on the world stake to the senior team to become a major football power had always been a challenge.
That is why the new trend of having players who were born to Nigerian parent(s) but grew up outside the country is a welcome development that everyone hope will help addresses the challenge of exposure and development of technical abilities early in life. The recent call up of about 7 of such players to the national team for the friendly matches against Algeria and Tunisia full underscores this drive.
One of the department that now stands to benefit greatly from this infusion of Nigerians in Diaspora is the goalkeeping department with the team now spoilt for choice in that department. Here are the goalkeepers that will be vying to make Nigeria proud in the forthcoming matches.
Dele Alamapasu
Dele won the Golden Glove award in the 2013 U17 World Cup as Nigeria won the title for the 4th time. However the transition to the senior team has been a very troubled one. He began his senior career with Feirense in 2015 after failed trials with Real Oviedo, Genk, and Braga. He currently plays for Ventspil in Latvia. He earned his first international cap on 1st of June 2017 as a substitute in the 70th minute in the 3-0 win against Togo.
Maduka Okoye
The German born Nigerian earned his first cap for the Super Eagles back in October 2019 as a substitute in the friendly game against Brazil which ended in a 1-1 draw. He played for both the youth team and the senior team of Fortuna Düsseldorf II. In 2020, he moved to Netherlands where he currently plays for Eredivise side Sparta Rotterdam.
Mathew Yakubu
The former Flying Eagles player is one of the invited players that hope to earn his first cap for the national team. He currently plays for SKF Sered in the Slovakian League where his spectacular performance has earned him compares with Ajax FC goalkeeping star Andre Onana. He was a part of the Under 21 national team that won silver in the African Games in Morocco back in 2019.
Tobias Lawal
obias has represented Austria at the Under 19 and Under 20 junior level before opting to honour the call up to the senior national team of Nigeria. The Austrian born Nigerian goalkeeper currently play for LASK in Austria having signed with the club’s junior team in 2017 before being promoted to the senior team.
The bet on these emerging goalkeepers is that one of them would eventually become the solution to the goalkeeping problem created at the departure of Carl Ikeme from the national team due to illness.
