GREATEST NIGERIAN FOOTBALLER, SHORUNMU DISAGREES WITH AMOKACHI ON MIKEL

Former Super Eagles first-choice goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu has reacted to the statement made by his former teammate Daniel Amokachi that John Mikel Obi is the greatest Nigerian player of all time. 

Another Super Eagles teammate of Amokachi, Garba Lawal also jumped into the fray, disputing the claims by the former Everton of England star that Mikel was Nigeria’s greatest ever football player. Amokachi made the statement while speaking on his popular program “The Bull’s Pit” on Brila FM on Monday, insisting that the laurels Mikel won puts him ahead of all other great players that ever came out of the country. “Mikel is the greatest player. He has won everything that a player can hope to, the Champions League, Europa League, AFCON in 2013 and he also captained the national team,”

As a footballer, your laurels count and that will surely count for Mikel because nobody has won that much in Nigerian football,” Amokachi said. However, Shoronmu who is regarded as one of the best Nigerian goalkeepers ever, in an exclusive interview that it’s difficult to award such title to the former Super Eagles captain, claiming that there are several players who deserve the honor than the former Chelsea man. 

“He’s our ambassador, you have to give it to him. Mikel is a great player but there are a lot of great players ahead of him who have played for Nigeria as well”, Shorunmu said.

 “If you look at names like Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, Emmanuel Okala, Peter Rufai, and Segun Odegbami, then you can’t just pick someone around the corner and say he’s the greatest player “ Shorunmu stressed. 

Meanwhile, in disputing Amokachi’s claims, Lawal who played alongside Amokachi in the national team said titles are not enough to rate players in a country that has produced great soccer talents like Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, Finidi George, and Rashidi Yekini. “How is that possible?” “Honestly, it is surprising. I doubt it so much. 

How can Dan say such a thing? “You must weigh so many things before you arrive at such a conclusion. “There are different categories, and players’ abilities are different. The skills and a lot of things are not the same. You cannot compare all,” he stressed.