In its quest for a new coach for the Super Eagles, Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick said the federation spoke with Roma manager Jose Mourinho.
Pinnick claimed the Eagles would receive a new coach "within the next week or two" during a media session with sports journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, implying interim coach Austin Eguavoen may not lead the team to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, which begins January 9, 2022 in Cameroon.
Following the sacking of Franco-German Gernot Rohr on December 12, Eguavoen was named interim coach, but Pinnick noted that the federation was well along in its hunt for a permanent replacement for Rohr.
"The new coach will place a strong focus on discipline.
"On discipline, we'll look at his history," Pinnick said.
"Secondly, we'll look at how motivated he is to win trophies, because hunger overcomes a lot of obstacles, and if he wants to win, he'll instill discipline."
"We'll look into all of this, but I can't make any firm statements because I'd be undercutting my executive committee.
"Two, until my executive committee says this is the name within the next week or so, because the technical committee has to give their findings to the executive committee, this is the name."
It will be a smooth transition to the present squad, which is led by Eguavoen.
"However, we have spoken to three outstanding coaches, one of which is Peseiro, whose name has been circulating, and I can assure you that he is a top coach."
"We also talked to Mladen (Krstajic)," he continued, "but after talking to him, he secured a position with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a top team in Israel."
You can see that these are coaches who are hungry and ready to make Nigeria their home; these are people who we know are up to the task of dealing with Nigeria's 200 million people.
"They're coaches who the players can't be bigger than, and I believe we're doing everything we can, which is why we work with the ministry on a daily basis."
"Of course Mourinho, I'm not going to say you we didn't speak to him because we did, and the (sports) minister also spoke to him, and there's nothing wrong with that."
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