Peseiro namechecks five good strikers not with the Super Eagles in Portugal including Gift Orban, Dessers 

Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro has acknowledged that he is spoilt for choice in the striking position ahead of his side's international friendly against Saudi Arabia on Friday.

For the ongoing camp in Portugal, Peseiro has handed call-ups to Napoli's Victor Osimhen, Leicester City's Kelechi Iheanacho, Bayer Leverkusen's Victor Boniface, OGC Nice's Terem Moffi and Real Sociedad's Umar Sadiq, who have scored 23 goals between them in the 2023-2024 season. 

The Portuguese football tactician usually sets up in a 4-4-2 formation to accommodate the strikers in the Super Eagles team. 

The strikers played an important role as Nigeria qualified for the 2023 African Cup of Nations by accounting for fifteen of the 22 goals netted by the Super Eagles, with Osimhen top scoring with 10 goals.

Peseiro pointed out that there are several good strikers not currently with the Super Eagles in Portugal like Cyriel Dessers (Glasgow Rangers), Gift Orban (KAA Gent), Chuba Akpom (Ajax Amsterdam), Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest) and Paul Onuachu (Trabzonspor). 

Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Thursday, Peseiro told reporters: "It's not easy being a striker now in Nigeria because you have too much competition.

"For that I play 4-4-2, with good strikers it's better you play 4-4-2 but we want to create the organization and balance to play 4-4-2 against good teams, that's the key point.

"Taiwo (Awoniyi) is injured but you have more and more, eight to ten. I remember Dessers, Onuachu, Orban.

"Dessers can play like a striker a lot, the guy at Ajax now Akpom - many good strikers. No team can play with eleven strikers, should lose all the matches.

"We try to call the best for each moment and use them depending on the strategy, which opposition you want to play, we can chose one or another depending on the performance.

"It doesn't happen for the other positions. We have two, three players for the other positions but not the same amount like the strikers."

With the exception of 2022-2023 EFL Championship Golden Boot winner, Akpom, all the aforementioned players have been called up to the Nigerian national team since the appointment of Peseiro as coach.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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