NFF gets $1.5m to pay Eagles' manager's salary prompting talk Le Guen will be named

NIGERIAN Football Federation (NFF) officials have secured $1.5m in funding from a major sponsor fuelling talk that Frenchman Paul Le Guen will soon be named as the new head coach of the Super Eagles as his salary has been secured.

 

At the moment, the Eagles are without a head coach after Sunday Oliseh resigned earlier this year and since then Samson Siasia and  Salisu Yusuf have managed the team on an interim basis. Speculation has been rife over recent weeks about who the new manager will be and after Nigeria was drawn in a tough World Cup qualification group including Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia, the search for a coach has intensified.

 

It is believed that the NFF was considering a shortlist of up to 20 candidates who had applied for the job but Mr Le Guen has been the favourite. Now that the NFF has secured the sum of £1.5m from a sponsor, it is expected to announce his appointment soon as it can now afford to pay his salary.

 

According to one NFF source, the cash, which is believed to be coming from an oil company,  is expected this week. After the sports ministry told the NFF that the government will not help out with paying for an expatriate coach, the federation went out of its way to seek private funding.

 

Serbian Goran Stevanovic, who coached the Black Stars of Ghana between 2011 and 2012 is one of the candidates on the list, as is Dutchman Clemence Westerhoff, who once managed the Eagles. One NFF source added, however, that even though Mr Le Guen is leading, the momentum appears to be going in the direction of some the Serbian coaches.

 

He said: “The reason for looking in the direction of Eastern Europe is because of the work rate of coaches from that region. The idea is not to bring a ready-made big name coach but to get a coach who is ready to work and build up a huge CV.

 

"It’s for that reason that the federation slowed down from recruiting Le Guen in the first place. However, it’s a different thinking now as we don’t have the luxury of time anymore.”

 

Apparently, the NFF is ready to part with about $50,000 as a monthly salary for the coach which will also cover the payment of any other foreign coach he may want to bring along. Apart from the goalkeepers trainer, the only Nigerian coach that will serve as his assistant is stand-in coach, Salisu Yusuf.

 

In order to save cost, the NFF has concluded arrangements to interview the coaches who have been short-listed this Friday via Skype. Now, the NFF is just waiting for the cash to come through, after which it will name the sponsors.