Emmanuel Amuneke has voiced his gladness seeing Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze and Lille’s Victor Osimhen become ‘household names’ for Nigeria and their respective European clubs.
Both players contributed a great deal as Nigeria U17 won the 2015 FIFA World Cup staged in Chile.
While Osimhen won the Golden Boot and Silver Ball, Chukwueze walked away with the Bronze Boot.
Since then, the youngsters have been key figures for their European teams as well as the country’s senior national team, helping them place third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
For the 1994 African Player of the Year, who was their coach at National U17 and U20 levels, credit for their meteoric rise should be given to the coaches who discovered them, while hoping Nigeria builds on this to groom more superstars in future.
“Football is like a school where you progress from the primary school down to the tertiary institution. Even after that, you continue to educate yourself,” Amuneke told newsmen.
He said: “Playing in the youth team is an opportunity for a young player who is dreaming big to become a professional. Helping your team win the World Cup at youth level means you have something special as a player
“It depends on capacity, abilities and mentality to continue to progress as a footballer, so seeing (Samuel) Chukwueze and (Victor) Osimhen progressing gives me joy.
“These are players we all picked without anybody knowing anything about them. We saw the qualities they possessed and tries to guide them to develop.”
“They have answered some of the questions asked during the 2015 U17 World Cup in Chile, on why African players after doing well in a cadet tournament fail to progress,” he continued.
“Seeing them becoming household names for their clubs and the Super Eagles in their early 20s is a very good thing and it means that those people who have worked hard in the U17 category since 2013 have done a good job and have set a pace,” he said.
“It’s up to us to be able to build on that and see how our players can transform from the youth level to the senior level towards becoming better players in future.”
Before European football leagues went on a hiatus owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, Osimhen contributed 13 goals in 27 French top-flight appearances this term.
For Chukwueze, in 26 Spanish elite division outings, he has found the net thrice as the Yellow Submarine stay eighth on the La Liga log.