Again, Bribery Allegations Hit Flying Eagles 21-man Squad
In what has become a custom, bribery allegations have once more hit the Flying Eagles camp after the coach, Paul Aigbogun released the final 21 players for this month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland, Bestchoicesports.com.ng understands.
Allnigeriasoccer reports that the Nigeria Football Federation are set to announced the Flying Eagles roster for the 2019 World Cup Monday adding that some roster spots appeared to have gone to the highest bidder.
“Already three promising players representing English Premier League clubs in the shape of Manchester City’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Everton’s Korede Adedoyin and Watford’s Jayden Bennetts are not in contention to make the 21-man roster, having departed camp last week.
“They have argued that they couldn’t bribe the coaching staff because they spent a lot of money traveling to the training camp and the practice of bribery is alien to England, where they grew up,” paper reported.
“Using the England U20 team as a case study, manager Paul Simpson will give the same opportunity to all the players invited to the national team to prove themselves before dropping players which wasn’t observed by Flying Eagles boss Paul Aigbogun.
Meanwhile, assistant coach of the Nigeria U20s, Abdullahi Maikaba has written a petition to the Nigerian Federation on Paul Aigbogun, regarding how the team was selected.
The NFF asked Maikaba if Aigbogun collected bribe before selecting the players and he replied no.
Recall that the team was also alleged to have been involved in bribe giving and receieving when the list of players to travel to Germany for the World Cup camping was released last month.