Golden Eaglets head coach, Manu Garba, reveals how he fished out overaged players who wanted to gatecrash the national team Abuja camp; npflupdates.com reports.
Coach Garba for over two weeks now is in camp with over 51 potential Golden Eaglets (U-17 men’s) players in Abuja.
The tactician is preparing a team that will feature at the 2024 WAFU-B U-17 tournament coming in Ghana later this year.
And with the Eaglets as the defending champions, much is expected from the newly recruited gaffer and his boys.
All was going well with Garba and his boys, until it was speculated in the media that majority of the best players in camp have failed the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.
But according to a statement credited to the FIFA U-17 world cup winner, genuine players with MRI test results are in currently camp. He described the speculations as false and lacks truth; at the same time he urged the entire public to disregard such information.
What coach Manu Garba said about Golden Eaglets MRI test
“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI tests conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U17 tournament,” Garba was quoted by Golden Eaglets media officer.
“When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI tests they conducted showed that their players were on Grade 5. These players had to leave the camp immediately.”
“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U17 tournament in Accra, Ghana.” @thenff pic.twitter.com/qUl8qtWFrZ
— Francis Achi (@totorimaster) May 5, 2024
Speaking further, the football guru revealed that players who are insincere with their age and MRI test has been screened out of the camp.
He continued; “Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or d other have been exposed after d NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago,and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with d requirements of NFF.
“The NFF insists on players whose results are between Grade 1 – 4. Players on Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.
Also read: Awoniyi Was The Luckiest Player I’ve Worked With – Garba
“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U17 tournament in Accra, Ghana.”
Nigeria will begin it’s WAFU-B title defense against Burkina Faso on Matchday 2.
