Keshi did not apply for Ivory Coast job, agent says

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The representative of Coach Stephen Keshi, Emmanuel Ado, has stated that his client never applied for the vacant coaching job of Ivory Coast.

Keshi was listed as an applicant by the football federation of the West African nation alongside 50 other coaches. But Barrister Ado, in an exclusive chat with PREMIUM TIMES, said if Keshi was to apply for such job he would be the one to handle it and he never sent Keshi’s CV to the Ivorian Football Federation.

“Keshi did not apply for the Ivory Coast job. I am his official agent and I am the one that would have done that on his behalf if he was interested,” he said.

Mr. Ado, however, stated that there are ‘freelance’ agents everywhere who may have acted independently to cash on the clout of Keshi and applied on his behalf believing that they could benefit if the deal pulls through.

“I was the one that negotiated Keshi’s contract in Togo, Mali, when he was discussing with Equatorial Guinea and here in Nigeria, we know what is his current contract and we are professionals and would not go against a signed agreement.

“If Keshi is to leave, his contract is explicit on how he can go about It, but he is happy with his job and he is willing to see out his two-year contract, we don’t know why people are creating crisis where this none,” Mr. Ado said.

In another vein, Mr Ado said he is baffled that so much crisis has trailed Nigeria’s winning start in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series in which the Super Eagles defeated Chad 2-0.

After the win in Kaduna, Coach Keshi was issued a query for inviting a player, Okechukwu Gabriel, from the amateurs ranks. Captain Vincent Enyeama was issued a query and has been summoned before a disciplinary committee for his supposed unguarded statements about the security situation in Kaduna while SS Lazio midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi, has also been slammed with a $5,000 fine for his red card in the Chad game.

“Those behind these entire unnecessary crises are people who want the NFF President Amaju Pinnick to fail. We need to instil discipline in our players but I think there are better ways to go about it. On the issue of inviting an unknown player, Keshi that I know is not a joker when he comes to his work, I don’t know why a coach will see what he wants in a player, invite him and will be queried for doing that. This player was not smuggled into the team; his name was submitted like others and he made the final cut,” Mr Ado said.

The representative of the Big Boss recounted that players like Thiery henry, Edwin van deer Sar and Filipo Inzaghi were initially rejected before they became greats in their own rights.

“I think the hallmark of a good coach is ability to take risks, Keshi does not have a knack for recycling players like most Nigerian coaches do, I think he should be allowed to do his job freely and be responsible for his actions,” he said.