It’s been two months since the process of contract renewal talks with Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr were supposed to get underway, but the Nigeria Football Federation remains tight lip on German’s future.
Rohr was appointed in 2016 and guided the team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
However, his current deal with the NFF ends in June, in the course of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers and before the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Any signs that the Coach will return are quite bleak and the NFF has stayed mum about retaining his services.
The NFF has gone about the business of scouting players – foreign born footballers – without much input from Rohr.
This in spite of the FA inserting a clause that requires the Coach to include more players from the local leagues in his future invitations.
Recently, former Eagles captain Joseph Yobo was appointed as assistant coach in the team and will be part of Rohr’s backroom staff.
The decision was unilateral as well as controversial and expectedly sparked debate especially because the former player has no previous coaching credentials.
It is also clear what his role in the team will be with reports that Chief Coach Salisu Yusuf could also be back after serving a one-year ban for accepting cash to select players.
Rohr has also gone quite, granting less and less interviews to local media and making few press appearances, fueling speculations that he could be on his way out of the job.
Until June though, the 66 year-old has three official games to execute with the national team in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers.