A former Captain of Nigeria’s National team, Segun Odegbami has revealed that the country can’t produce a player as exceptional as former Super Eagles Forward Rashidi Yekini yet.
Odegbami, who stated that Rashidi Yekini still remains the benchmark for measuring success and patriotism in Nigerian Football, explained this during an interview with THIISDAY newspaper.
According to him, “Rashidi Yekini was an exceptional footballer. He was thrown up by the system we had in place in the country then and flourished as footballer for both club and country.”
He, however, noted that the structure in place in the country currently does not permit the creation of a player of Rashidi Yekini’s calibre.
Explaining this, Odegbami, who agreed that there are sports talents in the country, said, “Yes we can have another Rashidi Yekini but unfortunately the environment will not allow it.
“Nigeria is filled with abundance of talents waiting to be discovered but unfortunately we operate a system that doesn’t encourage good grassroots sports development, not just football alone.
“Where did Rashidi Yekini come from? Nobody knew him until we brought him to Ibadan from Kaduna. The system then was good for talents to flourish but not anymore,” said the former Shooting Stars winger who has been trying to recreate the golden era of Nigerian soccer at his sports academy in Wasimi in Ogun State.”
Asked if another Rashidi Yekini can emerge from the present crop of Nigerian strikers, Odegbami doubted it.
“I cannot tell you who amongst the present generation can be like Rashidi Yekini because the system doesn’t allow me to know them.”
He advocated for a good structure and better administration of the country’s football if Nigeria is to make any meaningful impact with the abundant talents here.
“What we need is a good structure and administration that will allow our players to achieve their full potentials,” the ex international added.
