Babatunde eyes Eagles’ return

Qatari Sports Club attacker Babatunde Michael has declared that he has no iota of doubt in his mind as to whether he would be able to make his way back to the Super Eagles.

Babatunde in a telephone chat with Extra Time said the coming of a German football technocrat Gernot Rohr would certainly uplift the country’s football and place her where she should be in the committee of world football nations.

He claimed that his absence from the team after a scintillating performance in the Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup does not imply that he is out of the team rather the new coach is living up to his promise to give all Nigerian-born football players a chance to fight for a place in the team regardless of where they are born or the country they may have represented at the youth stage.

“I am not worried about my place in the Super Eagles. That I am not in the team now does not imply that I am out of the team forever.

I know my chance to prove myself will still come and I am ready to grab it to prove that I am a better player now,” he said.

The player who emerged as the highest goal scoring Nigerian player in the current season with 25 goals and 10 assists that promoted his club to first league in Qatar noted that he is more of a professional now than when he was plying his trade in Europe.

According to him, “Playing football in Qatar is not as easy as people may think. I have played in Europe, North Africa and now in Qatar.

In Qatar once you are signed, the expectation would be very high from your employers. They expect you to be at your best both in trainings and matches. Any day you drop in performance, you would be risking sack.”

He argued that playing in Qatar should not be the criterion for the coach to drop him from the Super Eagles noting that the quality of a player is not judged by the league he is playing since football is a means of making a living.

Babatunde who disclosed that already four offers from China and Europe are waiting for his approval and that of his club for next season maintained that he is not in a hurry to jump at any of them and added that he is comfortable in his club and the city of Qatar is a home for him.

On the possibility of Nigeria qualifying for the Russia 2018 Fifa World Cup, Babatunde said, “We have everything it takes to qualify for the world cup.

Our Coach is world class and he has a pool of quality players to prosecute the qualifiers. Already, Nigeria is leading in our group and I do not see the magic that would pull us backward.

We are as good as being in Russia. We need to maintain the tempo, win our matches and be not distracted by what our opponents are doing in their own matches.”