FIFA World Cup winner, Laurent Blanc and former Barcelona gaffer Ernesto Valverde have emerged top on the list of four coaches recommended to the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the next Manager of the Super Eagles, according to reports.
After the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the NFF met with the Sports Ministry last Monday to discuss the need to urgently appoint a new Coach to lead the Super Eagles ahead of the fast approaching Nations Cup Qualifiers.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the way forward for Nigerian football is to employ a foreign Technical Adviser, with a Nigerian as Chief Coach.
The former France Coach, Blanc is one of the foreign football coaches who applied for the Eagles job which has been vacant after the NFF fired the Austin Eguavoen-led technical crew.
Apart from being the Manager of France twice, Blanc also coached Bordeaux and Paris Saint German in the French Ligue1 and for now, he tops the list of those aspiring to take the Super Eagles job.
Former Holland international, Philip Cocu and Jose Persseiro are the other coaches on the list.
Aside Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde has managed Valencia, Olypiacos, Espanyol and Athletico Bilbao.
While Cocu, an assistant manager with Holland between 2008 and 2012 is also a former Coach of PSV, Fernabache and Derby County.
Peseiro, a former Coach of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela is also a former manager of Sporting CP, Braga, Al Ahly, Al Hital and an assistant coach in Real Madrid.
NFF President Amaju Pinnick, disclosed last week that the NFF will welcome back Peseiro if he chooses to come back as the coach of the Super Eagles.
The NFF had named Peseiro as Super Eagles’ substantive head coach last December after firing former Coach, Gernot Rohr.
Peseiro was expected to take charge of the Super Eagles after the AFCON in Cameroon, but the NFF decided to hand over the job to Austine Eguavoen.
After a meeting on Friday in Abuja, the technical committee of the NFF led by Ahmed Yusuf recommended Blanc, Verlverde, Cocu and Peseiro to the football body.
