once again the nostalgia of the world cup is over we have huffed and puffed, 4 years ago after that disappointing performance at world cup south africa i wasn't disappointed nor surprised because i expected that kind of performance, fast forward 4 years later we won the nations cup, won a world cup game for the first time in 16 years and also went to round of 16, I'm not celebrating mediocre result but looking at the scenario of our past world cup in the last 2 editions it is a much needed improvement. during this concluded world cup what i realized again is super eagles midfield problems we have a problem in finding playmakers note mikel wasn't our playmaker at world cup HE PLAYED A DEEP LYING MIDFIELD PLAYMAKING ROLE although he was expected much he didn't perform nonetheless he can be forgiven because of what he has done for eagles in the last year or so. now is the time for us to find attacking midfilders/playmakers i believe if super eagles can get 2 great attacking midfielders we can really do well lets analyze playmaking options we have

1. haruna lukman _ this lad has always been playing well for club although he didn't really had a great performance at last world cup his games at friendly matches prior to world cup was impressive even after that he performed really good at monaco then now at dynamo kiev i don't understand why we keep ignoring a player like haruna in super eagles for the past 4 years this guy belongs to eagles team

2. chuks aneke - i mentioned this kid in 2010 after world cup, prior to 2014 world cup i mentioned this kid again as a player to watch now i think we need to keep an eye on him, this guy refused to sign a contract at arsenal because he was offered to be used as a "dm" or go to another english lower division club, he refused and signed abroad something english born youngsters hate doing now he plays at a first division club in belgium yesterday he had a good game in europa league qualifier we need to get him before he plays very well and england takes him mind you he has played for england at lower level but his still eligible for nigeria. we need him nowww

3. kelechi iheancho _ after all nigeria performance at u 17 world cup and players failing to make the grade to senior team, i lost interest in u 17 to me it was a team where older guys bullies legitimate u17 players then when they finally meet their age mate they become opld and refuse to perform, however this last u 17 was a product of n/f "catch them young" policies so most of these guys from that last team were a product of that policies which means that these guys really young or around that age. the star man at that tournament was iheanacho i really liked him because his a playmaker a position we have been lacking they claimed it was just under 17 3 days atop he played in the same team as regulars like emus navas, cliché,kolarov, boyatas and was voted the man of the match award he is the kind of player we lack in eagles i don't want to over hype the guy like we all did to mikel but this guy is a special talent and we have to do everything to encourage and support players like this, west africa is lacking playmakers most of these playmakers are converted to defensive midfielders we need to help nurture iheanacho even if man city don't play him at first team

4. sone aluko _ he could play attacking mid behind the striker, can dribble, shoot, pass and his set piece abilities is something we have been lacking i have been saying this that set piece win games and this kid set piece abilities is really good i don't even know how the heck he didn't make our world cup squad (keshi didn't select our best players}

5. micheal olaitan - up and coming player another creative midfielder type of player unfortunately got injured heart related issue so i don't know whats going on with him but if he comes back he is a player to follow

honorable mentions

1. micheal babatunde
2. sunday mba
3. leslie ezeugo (usa watch}
4. terry akpua (portugal watch}
5. ifeanyi mattews
6. musa yahaya

overall seriously if we can find 2 playmakers from this players i believe we can really do well at next world cup because we easily produce players at other positions except playmakers . look at how energetic onazi improved super eagles. note this is a thread to observe any player in the future that we think can be a playmakers i need forumers to list their names.

i forgot to add some players from manu garba u 20 squad any players that you think is good enough from that team as an attacking midfielder that i omitted please list their names

decibel what do you mean by your quote>??

12large1: decibel what do you mean by your quote>??

As you can see...

Nice write up bro but i think for now we should forget abt the idea of a playmaker and work on building a team who can play together...the likes of germany,costa rica,uruguay,greece didnt rely on playmakers to function,we can build a team that can perform well...Secondly i think we need to work on our formation cos the likes of babatunde and osaze showed us that they can play from the midfield as an AM...I dont mind the coach bringing in Lukman haruna as our 10 for now..i also think with good performance and development our future is secure with onazi,oduamadi,iheanacho,yahaya etc

fijiano i disagree with you guy no team that has won a world cup has done it without playmakers or creative midfielders, intact teams like germany even paraded at least 4 attacking midfielders at their team. nigeria always think football is won by many forwards and no midfield but i disagree with a strong dm, 2 good cm and world class am you don't even need a good striker to win you games

12large1: fijiano i disagree with you guy no team that has won a world cup has done it without playmakers or creative midfielders, intact teams like germany even paraded at least 4 attacking midfielders at their team. nigeria always think football is won by many forwards and no midfield but i disagree with a strong dm, 2 good cm and world class am you don't even need a good striker to win you games

sorry bro u are mistaken...a playmaker in football is diff from a creative player,players like osaze,suarez,inesta,muller,rosicky etc are creative player but some players are told to play as the playmaker meaning they are the focal point of the team...Ozil is a playmaker at arsenal but at the worldcup no German player played as 10 or role of a playmaker,do u know the likes of ozil,muller were used as false 9

fiji players like iniesta rosicky are definitely playmakers. my guy your still a learner in football

Just in case

go back n watch it again, ozil was a playmaker

fijiano202: Nice write up bro but i think for now we should forget abt the idea of a playmaker and work on building a team who can play together...the likes of germany,costa rica,uruguay,greece didnt rely on playmakers to function,we can build a team that can perform well...Secondly i think we need to work on our formation cos the likes of babatunde and osaze showed us that they can play from the midfield as an AM...I dont mind the coach bringing in Lukman haruna as our 10 for now..i also think with good performance and development our future is secure with onazi,oduamadi,iheanacho,yahaya etc

yes i agree with you that we should forget about looking for a playmaker. Now efforts should be concentrated @ building a new team. The next world cup may be 2 soon but we can target d 2022 world cup. We should concentrate on our young talents, n guide dm till they mature for d future. Gotze scored d winning goal for germany @ d world cup final. How many of us remembered dt he played under 17 in 2009 here in nigeria. Within five years look @ what he has achieved. The future is great considering d manu garba boys, the new under17 being coached by amuneke and a lot of young nigerians playing in youth sections of top european clubs already.