FLYING Eagles head coach Ladan Bosso has denied a report that he claimed to have rejected €100,000 offered by a football agent to have a player included in the Nigeria U-20s squad.
“Please permit me to clear the air on this news making the rounds about me rejecting an amount of money from a football agent,” Bosso told the Nigeria Football Federation media team.
“I never made such a claim to any journalist, let alone in a formal interview. There was no time I made such a statement to either a journalist or any other person for that matter. If anyone has proof of my making such a statement, the person should come out and tender it in public.”
Bosso, who led the Flying Eagles to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2007 before returning to the team last year, is preparing for the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Egypt from February 19 to March 11.
He adds: “At the moment, I am focused on ensuring the Flying Eagles prepare very well and we are able to pick the very best legs to represent Nigeria at the Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt. We surely can do without such distractions.”
Bosso also shed more light on the number of players invited to camp for the final phase of preparations ahead of the continental tournament.
“I have also read somewhere that we have 65 players in the camp; this is outright falsehood. There’s no way we can have that big number in the camp,” he explained.
“We resumed with 35 players in the camp and that is the number we have for now. Working with my assistants, we will start to trim the squad once the overseas-based players start arriving in camp.”
The veteran also called on stakeholders to back the Flying Eagles as the team chase an eighth African title.
“I am calling on all critical stakeholders including the media to rally round and support this team,” Bosso said.
“We need no distractions at this point; all we need is the support of everyone in our quest to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals in Indonesia.”
