Labbadia reveals real reason for rejecting Super Eagles job, says: Nigeria have an attack that is second to none

-Bruno Labaddia says he did not cancel his deal with the Super Eagles for financial reasons.

The German, who was a former coach at Bundesliga sides, VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV, says money was not the issue for him in an interview he had with Martin Harnik on his podcast “Flatterball.”

Labbadia says he was enthusiastic about the Nigeria job and wanted to come to the west African country at least five days before the Super Eagles 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game in Uyo and was tiding up things before the Nigeria Football Federation made the announcement of his engagement.

‘I wanted to go abroad. The basic prerequisite for me was: I have to go to Nigeria to see everything on site. And that was no longer possible the moment it was announced.

‘It wasn’t about the payment anymore. There were various organizational things that were problematic. They were super talks. And it’s important to me: It was solely because of my feeling that I didn’t have the time I wanted to accept 100 percent. That’s why I canceled,’ said the German.

Labbadia had earlier rejected the chance to be the new head coach of China because of the prospect of coaching Nigeria.

‘I wanted to coach at the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Above all, to coach at the World Cup with a team with which wouldn’t have to hide from the big teams.’

A top striker in his days as a player, Labbadia believes Nigeria has an attack that can rival any in the world. He was particularly impressed by Victor Osimhen and Victor Boniface (23/Bayer Leverkusen), among others.

‘Nigeria have an attack that is second to none. I have to be honest about that,’ he said.