WHO IS NIGERIA’S G.O.A.T?

By Moses Onyilo Adikwu

There’s been a lot of debate recently among Nigerian football fans on who is the greatest player to have ever played for the Super Eagles.

All these arose after ex Nigeria international and former Super Eagles assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi described former Super Eagles captain and ex Chelsea star, John Obi Mikel as Nigeria’s greatest player. In his words; “Mikel is the greatest player. He has won everything that a player can hope to, the Champions League, Europa League, AFCON in 2013 and he also captained the national team, as a footballer, your laurels count and that will surely count for Mikel because nobody has won it that much in Nigerian football,”

fellow ex international and former Super Eagles goal keeper Ike Shorunmu has however expressed a different opinion as to who Nigeria’s greatest player is, stating that Mikel isn’t the greatest Nigerian player and that there are other great footballers ahead of him when it comes to being Nigeria’s greatest player. In his words; “He’s our ambassador, you have to give it to him. Mikel is a great player but there are a lot of great players ahead of him who have played for Nigeria as well, If you look at names like Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, Emmanuel Okala, Peter Rufai, and Segun Odegbami, then you can’t just pick someone around the corner and say he’s the greatest player “ Shorunmu stressed.

Most Super Eagles faithfuls further joined the argument by specifically drawing comparisons between John Obi Mikel and Nwankwo Kanu with some stating that Kanu played better football and had a more illustrious career than Mikel while some think otherwise. Football fans who have been following the Super Eagles over the past 2-3 decades have thrown a host of other names into the debate. Names of Super Eagles greats mentioned include; Finidi George, Sunday Oliseh, Rashidi Yekini amongst others.

Who Nigeria’s G.O.A.T is will be a topic that will keep dividing opinions for the time being as a lot of football talents have been unearthed in Africa’s most populous nation, most of those talents have gone on to wear the green and white shirt representing the Super Eagles and achieving a lot in their respective careers for both the National team and their club sides.

Who are you sticking with as Nigeria’s greatest player of all time? Is it Mikel or Kanu? Who is the G.O.A.T mong the players mentioned above? Do you think there’s any other player not mentioned that is Nigeria’s Greatest Of All Time?