Nigeria name Salisu Yusuf head coach as Le Guen deal fails

The Nigeria Football Federation has confirmed Salisu Yusuf as the Super Eagles’ chief coach as it continues the search for a technical adviser.

Paul Le Guen and the NFF failed to agree terms for the Frenchman to take the role, despite an announcement from the country’s football federation.

The Frenchman had been named by the Nigerian Football Federation, which said he would work alongside Yusuf.

But the two parties could not come to a deal over a contract.

It is unclear how the two roles are to be defined but former Nigeria coaches Clemens Westerhof and Jo Bonfrere both had the official title of technical adviser.

The federation’s executive committee met today and approved the appointment of Yusuf, who was caretaker coach for friendly wins against Mali and Luxembourg in May.

At the same meeting the NFF’s technical and development sub-committee was asked to recommend a candidate for the post of ‘technical adviser’ within the next seven days.

The NFF said it had not been able to reach agreement on targets for the job, or over where Le Guen would be based.

The secretary-general of the NFF told the BBC that Le Guen had “rejected our terms”.

French football reporter Herve Penot, a friend of the coach, told Sport Today on the BBC World Service that Le Guen had had discussions but had never agreed a deal.

“He met the president of the federation, his requests were not met so that was it – it was finished,” he said.

A later statement from the NFF said it had “no issue with Le Guen saying he is not coming; several highly-qualified persons would be happy to coach Nigeria.”

Sunday Oliseh was the Super Eagles’ last permanent coach before he quit in February in a row over his contract.

Nigeria have failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon, but are in the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

They have been drawn in Group B where they will face Algeria, the top-ranked side in Africa, Cameroon, as well as Zambia.

The NFF’s technical committee had also recommended that former Super Eagles assistant coach Bitrus Bewarang be given the role of national technical director.