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Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The desperation of Nigerian youths to leave the country in frantic search to actualise their dream of plying their football career overseas, has recently assumed a frightening dimension.
Confirming the disturbing trend, players’ agent and chairman/CEO MK Sports International, Makanjuola Nureni, blamed the situation squarely on parents, who in their desperation had even deployed the services of pastors, Imams and herbalists, to ensure their wards leave the country for a football career abroad.
Fielding questions from The Sun Sports on Saturday on board Abuja flight to Lagos, MK equally lamented the dearth of skilful and exceptionally talented gifted players in the country, arguing that it is becoming very difficult to get a good player to break into any of the big teams in the best leagues around the world.
How many Nigerian players have you managed or still managing?
I have managed many Nigerian players but I can say that I effectively have five of them I still manage today. Such players include Babatunde Michael, Gabriel Okechukwu, Makanjuola, Success and many others, numbering over 10 that I don’t want to mention their names for personal reasons.
I have helped half of Nigerian players currently in the limelight now. Most of them in the Super Eagles and foreign clubs passed through me in one way or the other. I have equally done much to many of the players in the national teams from the U-17 to the Super Eagles.
Are you satisfied with the extent the players you are managing have attained?
I have every reason to be happy and satisfied with the level they have attained because most of them surpassed the target we set for them. We have a structure and mission in our establishment not to take players to obscure leagues where they will not progress in their career. So far, we have reneged in that vision and resolution.
What is you take on the impression that players’ agent is more about commercial than welfare of players?
I can boldly say that I was born into this profession having been there for several years after inheriting it from my uncle. I can only talk about myself and boldly say that I don’t put money first in this business of managing players.
If I had been doing that, I would not have gone this extent I have gone now in the profession of managing players. I won’t claim to be the best players’ agent in Nigeria, but I have paid my dues. It is passion not money that has been my driving force and has kept me in this business.
What are the challenges players’ agents face managing Nigerian players?
If we want to tell ourselves the truth without deceiving anyone, the first challenge I, in particular, face in this career is the lack of exceptional players in the country. We don’t just have gifted players that will make their marketability very easy.
Good and skilful players are just lacking among those jostling to play football. We can easily attribute this development to lack of structure to help fish out those talents from the grassroots. Our grassroots football programmes are dying a natural death without any conscious effort to revive them.
I also blame the youths for been too money conscious instead of meticulously developing whatever little talent God deposited in them. It is very unfortunate that the people in charge of running our football are only helping themselves from the funds they were supposed to use to build the structures to hunt for the talents.
The situation is deteriorating that it is becoming very difficult to Nigerian players to play for any big team now. What we have now are majorly average players. That is the more reason we are trying to put up structures at our outfits to boost the average players we have now to standard and the way they can be manageable.
We give them reorientation about the career generally. Remember that once the foundation of a building is faulty, the entire structure will need constant amendment.
What is the truth in the allegation that players’ agents influence Nigerian coaches’ selection of national team players?
They also claimed that Nigerian coaches collect bribe from players’ agents. I can only talk about myself as far as this allegation is concerned, but please, I don’t want to comment on this for personal reasons and I beg that you to respect my decision on this.
Are you also aware that agents take Nigerian players to obscure leagues equal to selling them into slavery?
Let me answer the question with an analogy of a graduate with even Master Degree who has spent over 10 years without securing a job. Such person will gladly take up an employment of N50,000 monthly wage because the salary is better than staying at home. Such person will be happy to start from somewhere.
It also boils down to what I described as structure. We have only 20 Premier League teams in the country. The clubs in Nigeria cannot absorb the youths, numbering over 15 million in the country interested in taking football as a career.
The youths are not helping matters. They compound the situation with the fact that many of them want to be like C Ronaldo, Messi, yet they forgot that they don’t have unique and exceptional talents like them. Their parents, uncles equally put unnecessary pressure on their children and players’ agents to take them out of the country without caring whether they have the talent to make them succeed there. Once they see them going to training every evening and morning, they would conclude that they are good enough to play anywhere in the world.
Many parents have stopped at nothing including employing the services of pastors, Muslim Alfa and even herbalists to ensure that their sons travel out of the country to play football. The pressures from parents are just too much.
What is your advice to Nigerian youths taking the rough route of desert to get to Europe to play football?
I have heard about it but I have not encountered anyone of them. But my perception about the situation they face is that anything is better than staying at home to many of them. I will not encourage anybody to go through the desert, but in most cases, it was an issue of taking what is available when the desirable was not there.
My structure will always insist on youths placing education side by side with pursuing football career. Most footballers are illiterate and adamant. They hardly listen to advice. Once they made up their mind about playing football, they would desperately stop at nothing in actualising their dream.
As I said earlier, pastors, Imams and parents are contributing more in deceiving the youths and increasing their desperation to play football outside the country. Instead of them getting the basic education to prepare them for the future, most of them are more concerned about owing the costliest car in the world, and living in the best house even at 30 years of age. Most of them also have passion for beautiful women.
I cannot understand the desperation of parents that have stopped at nothing to lure players’ agents to take their children outside the country. They would promise to pay any amount of money even when their children are not good enough. They will tell you that pastor or Imam or herbalist has assured them that their sons will make it big playing football.
Has Babarunde Michael attained the target you set for him?
I have every reason to thank God for the extent Babatunde has gone. He did well in Brazil 2014 FIFA Confederations Cup, which could be regarded as his turning point.
The injury he sustained during the tournament made me sad but we thank God for the level he has attained so far.
He played in Qatar before moving to Morocco and I am happy that he is doing well there now as one of the highest paid. He is not only playing regularly but also playing well in the CAF Champions League. He is moving very well in his career.
Why is it so common for players to easily fall out with their agents?
It is not happening in Nigeria alone, but the trend all over the world. We have contract duration which is mostly two years or more. At the end of the contract, any player not satisfied with the agent can easily terminate, walk out of the contract and get another agent. It is all about the commercial side of the business.
Why is it difficult for players’ agent to manage players in the domestic league?
Personally, I don’t want to manage domestic league players but I can only help them. The structure of our league is faulty. I can only help some of the good ones secure foreign contract but managing them while in the domestic league is totally out of it.
It has nothing to do with the money the agents will make, but the fact that the structure is terrible. There is money to put the structure to work very well, but they are not doing it right.
