31st July, 2013
General Manager of Ondo State Sports Agency, Mike Idoko, owner of Sunshine Football Club, has slammed the management of Arsenal Football Club of England and their manager, Arsene Wenger, for asking a player of Akure, Ondo State-based team, Godfrey Oboabona, undergo trials before signing him.
Idoko said Arsenal’s action is a slap on the face of not only Oboabona but Sunshine Stars as a whole. He argued that Oboabona is a tested and trusted defender, who has played at the highest level, hence he sees no sense in Wenger insisting that Oboabona should go for trials before signing him.
Idoko posited further that what else Wenger wants to see Oboabona do that he had not done before.
“I don’t know what Arsenal want from Oboabona. Our player is an Africa Cup of Nations winner. He also featured at the recently held Confederations Cup in Brazil. He had played at the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederations Cup. It is so sad that a player like Oboabona should be asked to undergo trials before he would be signed. I think Arsenal always look for cheap material.”
A number of football clubs have shown interest in the 22-year old defender but Idoko informed that they are willing to let the player leave at the right price, “We don’t hold back to any of our players here, what we do is to ensure that we give our players the chance to decide where they want to go and at the price that would be of good interest to both parties.”
On the contrary, 1997 African Footballer of the Year award winner and ex-international, Victor Ikpeba, has said that Wenger and Arsenal were right in asking Oboabona to undergo trials before he could be considered good enough at the Emirate Stadium.
The former AS Monaco of France forward noted that it is the norm in football for coaches to see footballers play in their presence as this would afford the coaches the opportunity of having a first hand assessment of the player. He challenged Oboabona to go for the trials if he feels that he is experienced enough to seal a first team shirt among other established players at Arsenal.
—Adebobola Alawode