Former Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has voiced his concern over Nigeria’s midfield imbalance, warning that the lack of creativity is leaving the national team’s attackers starved of quality service.
The ex-Everton forward argued that the current Super Eagles squad is overloaded with defensive midfielders, making it difficult for strikers to consistently find the net.
“We’re just a little bit short in the midfield, that’s the most important thing now because we don’t have a creative midfielder who can pass the ball to the strikers,” Aiyegbeni said. “Look at the way we scored goals in the national team in our days, it was different. We had players like Sunday Oliseh, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Finidi George. But now, we don’t have that. We have too many defensive midfielders.”
Aiyegbeni, who scored 21 goals in 57 appearances for Nigeria, insisted that even top strikers from his generation would struggle in the current setup.
“Even me, if I played in this generation, I would find it difficult to score goals because there is no creative midfielder to supply passes,” he admitted. “The only one we have is Alex Iwobi. He works hard, runs for 120 minutes, helps the defence, and does a great job, but he is not the kind of creative midfielder who can consistently set up the strikers.”
The former Portsmouth and Blackburn star urged Nigerian football authorities to focus on developing midfield creativity across all levels of the game, stressing that it remains a key factor behind the Super Eagles’ struggles in front of goal.
