Former Nigerian internationals are divided over the choice of John Mikel Obi as the greatest Nigerian player ever and varied opinions cut across all divides writes MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN with additional reports by ADEYINKA ADEDIPE and OLALEKAN OKUSAN
Debate about who is the greatest in any endeavour especially in sport would forever bring varied thoughts. It is capable of raking up controversy and conflicts of opinions.
Former Super Eagles forward Daniel Amokachi started it all.
The former Chelsea midfielder was successful while playing for the Stamford Bridge side. He was a long-serving players with the former European Champions before his exit two years ago. He played for the national team and was captain. But can he be regarded as the greatest ?
“Mikel Obi is the greatest Nigerian player. He won everything that a player can hope to – the Champions League, Europa, and AFCON in 2013, and he also captained the national team,” said Amokachi, nicknamed ‘Da Bull’ for his all-action striking role during his heyday with the Super Eagles.
He added: “As a footballer, your laurels count, and that will surely count for Mikel because nobody has won that much in Nigerian football.”
Certainly, Mikel’s repertoire with Chelsea is intimidating including winning the English Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions, Europa League while at national team level; he was part of the 2013 AFCON winning team under the late coach Stephen Keshi.
Nigeria has indeed produced notable footballers including the likes of Tesilimi ‘Tunder’ Balogun (who was regarded as the symbol of Nigerian football in his days); Godwin Achebe (who captained the national team from the 1950s through the 1970s); Christian ‘ Chairman’ Chukwu (who captained Nigeria to win her first African Cup of Nations in 1980); Stephen Keshi (the Big Boss) under whose wings Nigeria qualified for her maiden FIFA World Cup at USA’94 and won the AFCON at Tunisia 94) as well as the legendary striker Rashid Yekini (who scored some important goals for the country and the first Nigerian to win the African Footballer of the Year award).
Even in recent era, there is Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, George Finidi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Sunday Oliseh and others that held sway in the historic teams that earned Nigeria her first FIFA World Cup ticket at USA’94 as well as winning the African Cup of Nations at Tunisia’94 and winners of Africa’s first Olympic Soccer Gold medal at Atlanta in 1996.
It is as result of these indices that many former Nigerian footballers did not agree with Amokachi’s verdict, describing it as nothing but mere hallucination of the mind.
First to open the salvo is former national team goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu who argued that different generations of Super Eagles have churned out great players and it is out of place to tag Mikel as the greatest Nigerian footballer ever.
According to the Super Eagles goaltender at the 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup, Mikel can only be considered as one of the greatest Nigerians and not the greatest player ever despite winning laurels at club and national team level.
“It is not as simple as A-B-C to choose the best Nigerian player ever,” the former FC Zurich keeper explained.
He added that “There are different generations of Super Eagles with many brilliant players as such I will not agree with Amokachi that Mikel is the greatest Nigerian footballer.
“He may be saying that because he is now a football ambassador appointed by the government. He can say Mikel is one of the greatest; but as for me he is not the greatest. When you talk about achievements, yes he has done well with his clubs and the national team but to give a player that accolade as the greatest Nigerian player ever, you need to consider a lot of factors.
“He needs to have started from a local club side where he had an impression on the fans before moving to Europe and getting a call up to national team, and then you can consider him to be the greatest.
“For me, Mikel is a good player and a nice person but not the greatest Nigerian player.”
Former Super Eagles midfielder Mutiu Adepoju, is not ready to go into any debate on who the greatest Nigerian football is.
Adepoju, nicknamed the ‘headmaster’ for his knack for scoring goals with his head, noted that winning so much laurels and playing many games for various clubs and Nigeria may have informed Amokachi’s decision.
Adepoju who had a storied career in Spain, said Nigeria has produced many great players but his former teammate (Amokachi) might be right to choose Mikel for the honour when the laurels he has won are considered.
He explained: “There is no argument about the laurels and medals Mikel has won. He has also played so many games in the course of winning these laurels so he deserves to be celebrated. He has won the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Nations Cup but I must say that Nigeria has produced a lot of talented players.
“I go along with Amokachi based on what Mikel has won but Amokachi is entitled to his views,” stated Adepoju who also noted that the scope of selection should have been widened.
Erstwhile Super Eagles assistant coach Fatai Amao who is regarded as one of the most gifted players of his generation, agreed with the submission of Amokachi on Mikel Obi based on laurels won by the former Chelsea midfielder.
“I quite agree with Amokachi when it comes to laurels won at club level for Mikel to be named as the greatest Nigeria player. He was winner of the UEFA Champion and Europa Leagues as well as the English Premier League titles and FA Cup with Chelsea,” Amao admitted.
“Although the likes of Finidi George and Kanu Nwankwo won UEFA Champions League with Ajax, they never won similar laurels like Mikel.
“At Chelsea, Mikel was so successful that his years with the club were very interesting and fruitful. I can quite agree with Amokachi on this but when it comes to performance, talent and skills, you cannot compare him with some of Nigeria’s top stars like Haruna Ilerika,” Amao insisted.
Etim Esin, a former Nigerian international who was nicknamed Maradona for his wiles and guiles with the ball at the height of his career, faulted Amokachi on the premise that Mikel for instance did not win the African Footballer of the Year as did some of his illustrious predecessors like Nwankwo Kanu, Rashidi Yekini, Victor Ikpeba and Emmanuel Amuneke.
Mikel has done enough to be considered the greatest Nigerian player but his exploits at club level in Europe may have qualified him to be considered as one of the successful stars but his inability to win the African Footballer of the Year award like Nwankwo Kanu, Rashidi Yekini, Victor Ikpeba and Emmanuel Amuneke has not justified Amokachi’s claims.
Etim explained: “Mikel has done well for himself in terms of the laurels won while playing for Chelsea and he was able to achieve this because of his long stay with the London Club. He can be categorised among the greatest Nigerian players but not the greatest.
“For me, if you have not been able to win the African Footballer of the Year award as well as excelling at local level, you cannot be considered to be the greatest. There is no doubt he has done well for himself at club level as well as winning the AFCON title but you cannot compared those awards to someone who was crowned the best player in the continent.
“I am not saying that he has not done enough but he can be considered among the greatest but not the greatest,” noted the former Lokeren midfielder.
The 1994 African Footballer of the Year, Emmanuel Amuneke further extended the argument, saying every generation has its their own peculiar top players and Mikel at best, could be considered as the best in his generation.
The former Barcelona winger, who incidentally scored match-winning goals when Nigeria won both the AFCON in 1994 and Olympic Soccer Gold Medal in 1996, said it would be wrong for Amokachi to declare Mikel as the greatest Nigerian player ever.
“Maybe Amokachi wanted to nominate Mikel as the greatest Nigerian player of his generation because I don’t know the yardstick he used to have declared him as the greatest Nigerian player ever,” noted Amuneke who made name with Egyptian giants Zamalek en route to a successful career in Europe. Mikel in his generation has contributed to the success of the game.
“I don’t like saying this player is the best Nigerian player. Every generation is totally different and each generation has been able to put their mark on the development of Nigerian football.
“What will you say about people that have played before us like Henry Nwosu, Segun Odegbami, and Christian Chukwu and many others in their generation? They did their best and they are great players because they set the pace for others to follow.
“Also, in our generation, there were lots of great players and you can mention the likes of Amokachi himself, Finidi, Yekini, Okocha, Stephen Keshi or you can even mention about me that have scored a lot of goals that brought glory to Nigeria.
“People’s opinions have to be respected. I don’t like comparing generation of players. What matters is that let us see how another generation can continue and carry on what other people have done; but we have to respect Amokachi’s opinion.”
Meanwhile, the debate about the greatest Nigerian player is never ending with Amao picking late Stationery Stores star, Haruna Ilerika, as his greatest Nigerian player whose skills cannot be rivaled on the field of play.
He said: “Not many people watched Ilerika play in his active days but I was opportune to watch and play alongside Ilerika and I can conclude that he was my hero and my number one Nigeria’s greatest player because his skills and talents were out of this world.
“He was a complete footballer whose skills most times attracted fans to the stadium. There might be other great players, but no one stands close to the great Ilerika,” Amao added.
In fact, Amao’s view on Ilerika as one of the greatest Nigerian players ever was long ago shared by the former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF).
In a file interview with our correspondent as far back as February 2017,the Minister for Works and Housing who is a notable football aficionado, told our correspondent that but for lack of exposure, Ilerika as a matter of fact, was far better than the gifted Argentine 1986 FIFA World Cup winner, Diego Maradona.
“There are two players I admire so much,” noted Fashola. “Segun Odegbami was not only my hero but a great footballer who did so many wonderful things with Shooting Stars Football Club of Ibadan.
“But the most talented , I mean the most naturally gifted player I’ve seen including Diego Maradona is Haruna Ilerika who played for Stationery Stores but he never had the opportunity of playing at the international (global) level ‘ He was more gifted than Maradona.
“Not only was he a great entertainer, he was a very positive player and he was a great individual and team player. It was a sheer magic for me to have watched him play,” added BRF.
For Shorunmu, the likes of Christian Chukwu, Segun Odegbami, Emmanuel Okala, Adokiye Amiesimaka and many others who paved the way for subsequent generation of players should also be considered before any award can go to anyone, noting that giving out such accolade would be a difficult task.
He added: “It is unfortunate that most of these players I mentioned above and many others did not ply their trade in Europe but they were stars in their own right. During their era, things were so good locally and they really had no need to travel to Europe.
“The league was standard and lucrative not like what we have now with teams owing salaries and allowances. If our league is lucrative, we will get players who would do better than Mikel. As it is now, things have changed and he is benefitting from the evolution of the game and the big bucks now on offer.
“The team that won the 1980 Nations Cup in Lagos opened our eyes to what football has to offer, we played briefly at home and started moving to Europe to make more money. But what Mikel and some players in this generation are getting dwarfs what we got playing in Europe.
“Every era has in own stars. For my set, we had Austin Okocha, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Sunday Oliseh, Celestine Babayaro and many others who were top class,” Shorunmu said.
Yet Amuneke said Amokachi’s submission must be respected: “Amokachi’s opinion needs to be respected; everybody is entitled to their opinion. Everybody has done the best they could when they had the opportunity to serve or play for Nigeria. During the time of Odegbami, television view was less, and in our time, we were privileged to be seen but it is even not like what today when there is internet.
“So we must respect everybody; some of us have done our best for Nigerian football and we hope the new generation can add value to our football and sports,” noted Amuneke, the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup-winning coach with the Golden Eaglets. (The Nation)
