Chukwu: ‘Peseiro Could Be Another Westerhof’

Former Super Eagles coach Christian Chukwu has urged Nigerians not to conclude that newly appointed Technical Adviser, Jose Peseiro, will not achieve success with the national team because he has not won a trophy with any national team.

The former Real Madrid assistant coach has won only one trophy in his coaching career, which was the Portuguese league cup when he was with Braga between 2012 and 2013.

He coached Saudi Arabia between 2009 and 2011 and also had a spell with the Venezuelan national team between 2020 and 2021, without winning a trophy.

However, Chukwu stated that former Eagles coach Clemens Westerhof came to Nigeria without any track record of success as a coach.

His reaction came after former chairman, technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Chris Green, said Peseiro should have been allowed to come to Nigeria with his own backroom staff, rather than the NFF assigning him to work with indigenous coaches, which include Finidi George, Salisu Yusuf and Ike Shorunmu.

Green had argued that Peseiro could use it as an excuse in case he fails on the job.

But Chukwu insisted the notion that the 62-year-old has not won any trophy at the national team level does not come to play in football. He said it should not be used as a parameter to assess his worth.

“We shouldn’t be worried because I remember that when Westerhof came, he didn’t have any trophy to his name, he didn’t even have any criteria, but he came and perform. So that is why I said let him come, let’s see his performance. He can use this as a stepping stone and start winning trophies,” he told Brila FM in an interview on Thursday.

Peseiro is expected to be in charge of Nigeria’s upcoming international friendlies with Mexico and Ecuador scheduled to take place on May 29 and June 2 respectively in the United States of America.