Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, has advised young footballers trying to break into the national team to be patient.
Musa, who is Nigeria’s most-capped player with 107 matches since his debut at 17 in 2010, believed young footballers should cut their teeth with the age-grade teams before aspiring to play for the senior national team.
He also said that even if they are drafted into the senior team, they should not expect to be starters but rather make the best of the few minutes when they get to play, adding that he was not a regular when he started playing for the national team.
He would later help the Super Eagles win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and played for them at the last two World Cups netting twice at each tournament, making him the country’s top World Cup goalscorer.
He said: “We have the U-20s and U-23 teams, the Super Eagles is the number one team in Nigeria, you cannot bring a young player and start him; you will be killing his career.
“The national team is not a club side where the coach is going to give you time to develop. The national team is where a young player comes in for five minutes to 10 minutes. I started from five minutes with the Super Eagles and this has brought me to where I am today,” he added.
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