CEO of Reign Soccer Agency, Olawale Onipede was not overly impressed with what he saw in the 2021 edition of the Brave Sports Academy football tournament.
The 12th edition of the annual tournament was held last month in Lagos and Kano state with scouts and agents from European countries present.
Despite acknowledging the talents on show, Onipede says only a handful are ready for top-level European football. He said:
“We discovered some talents in Lagos and Kano state during this tournament. Despite the huge teams that participated in the tournament, we only discovered a few players that are ready to be taken to Europe.
“I must tell you that our Nigerian players are still lagging behind. Our target was to take almost 16 players to Europe but at the end of the day were only able to get half of the amount. These players we watched for the past two weeks are missing so many things.”
Onipede questioned the attitude of the grassroots players and called into attention to how the players are lagging behind technically and tactical. He also tasked grassroots coaches to refine their skillsets as it will go a long way in helping grassroots players develop their game.
“The coaches handling the game need to go and refresh their coaching skills because it goes a long way. Good coaching from an early stage helps a lot.”
