‘I can discover Ballon d'Or winners’ in Nigeria - Abdallah on U20 job

Ex-Nigeria international Usman Abdallah says he can help the country groom future Ballon d'Or winners if he is handed the U20 job.

Abdallah, who led Enyimba to win the 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League and a Confederation Cup semi-final finish, is favourite to replace Paul Aigbogun for the Flying Eagles’ head coach role.

His outstanding CV features a Uefa A license, a degree in football coaching and team management (France) and a Strength and Conditioning level 1 coaching certificate in Australia.

Goal

According to reports, the Nigeria Football Federation will announce the Franco-Nigerian in the coming days – a claim the tactician is unsure of when quizzed by Goal.

“Just like every other person, I applied for the job but I’m yet to get confirmation if I was picked or not,” he told Goal.

“Nigeria is my country and it will be nice if I eventually get this role because it will be a big chance to serve. Also, I have what it takes to discover future Ballon d'Or winners for the country.

“Without sounding immodest, I strongly believe that I will excel in this position not only because of my wealth of experience but because of my closeness to grassroots football.

“As I have always said, this level deserves a lot of serious work because players picked at this level form a pivot of future Super Eagles.”

After a failed expedition at the 2019 Fifa U20 World Cup in Poland, Nigeria will be hoping to qualify for Indonesia 2021 through the Africa U20 Cup of Nations scheduled for Mauritania.