Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, has explained his decision to exclude several key players from the squad for this year’s Unity Cup.
Chelle stated that stars like Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman were left out to create room for emerging talents to showcase their abilities.
Nigeria is set to face West African rivals Ghana on May 28 in the opening match of the tournament.
The coach has named 10 players from the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) in the squad and handed veteran Ahmed Musa another opportunity to impress.
“We have a lot of players in Nigeria, so we need to give chances to them so they can show us their quality, so it’s difficult for me to talk or think about anything else,” Chelle said in an interview with the NFF Media.
“We have a project, as a group, we want to create an identity, so we need to put some players who can learn quickly and get into the team.
“The Unity Cup is a great tournament to try out some players or try out some systems to be ready in September.”