Babayaro: Akpeyi Is Not The Long Term Solution To Enyeama's Likely International Retirement

Following Vincent Enyeama’s declaration on Tuesday that Nigeria need to start looking for his replacement as he might quit the Super Eagles soon, ex-Nigeria international Emmanuel Babayaro says Daniel Akpeyi, tipped to replace Enyeama, can’t quite replace the 32-year old.


Akpeyi put up a commanding show in  South Africa in an international friendly with the Bafana Bafana on Saturday, saving a penalty and displaying confidence, which is rare among Super Eagles’ understudies of late.

However, Babayaro, a former goalkeeper who won the Olympics with Nigeria in 1996, believes Akpeyi can only be a stop-gap option due to his age.

“I don’t subscribe to Akpeyi succeeding Enyeama, rather I view him as a stop-gap option before a younger goalkeeper succeeds Enyeama, as he is 29 years’ old, just three years younger than the man he is expected to replace,” he told SL10.ng.

“Akpeyi can’t be Enyema’s replacement, no disrepect to his talent or quality, but I believe in three to four years’ time he might not be around, unlike Vincent who is in his 13th year with the national team.

“You have to blame the national team coaches for this, having Ejide, Agbim and Enyeama as the top three who are almost in same age bracket, and even Akpeyi fourth choice, though unofficially, is not far off age-wise.

“The practice all round the world is to have a young understudy, much younger than the top two goalkeepers, we didn’t do that but it’s never too late to get a young goalkeeper to act as either second or third choice, I know we can find one if we do a honest search.”