Manu Garba, the newly appointed head coach of the Nigeria Under-17 team, the Golden Eaglets, has confirmed that he has invited 51 players to prepare for the 2024 WAFU B Under-17 tournament in Ghana.
Garba became the coach of the Golden Eaglets just a month before the youth tournament. He now has the task of choosing his team from the 51 players at a training camp in Abuja.
The 2024 WAFU B U-17 tournament will start in Accra on May 15 and end on May 29, 2024. The final squad list for all participating countries must be submitted no later than a week before the tournament begins.
In an interview with Totori News, Manu Garba mentioned that the 51 invited players are required to arrive at the camp on April 17.
The 58-year-old Nigerian coach stated that he personally scouted most of the 51 players who received invitations to the camp.
I have just submitted the list of 51 players that will open camp hopefully on Wednesday (today),” coach Garba said.
“I have scouted most of those players, and some lists were given to me by some stakeholders. But I believe in the majority of the players I have scouted on my own, I have mandated them to have their MRI scan before they come to camp.
He added, “Despite the short period to the WAFU tournament, I am very optimistic that we will raise a good team that will qualify for the AFCON because that is our primary assignment for now.
“We have a short time to scout for players. They might not be the players that will play all through the AFCON and the World Cup. As we play friendly matches, there is the likelihood that we might see better players than we have in camp. We will tell such players to go for their MRI scan and fight for places.
“I’ve done that several times with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi and co, who were not part of the screening, and look at what Taiwo is now playing for one of the EPL clubs, Nottingham Forest.”
