SC Paderbon of Germany left-back, Jamilu Collins has admitted that the will have to put in a lot of hard work with the club and in training with the national team, in order to keep his spot with the Super Eagles.
Collins has been described as the next great thing to happen to the Eagles’ left-back spot position, with many pundits also rating him as untouchable for now in that position, but the youngster says he is not letting it get to his head.
Rather than feel relaxed in all rave reviews rolling in his favour, footballlive.ng can report that the former Flying Eagles invitee is staying humble, as he insists Bryan Idowu, from Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia, is still ahead of him in the pecking order.
Indeed, Idowu was a regular at left-back for Nigeria at the World Cup, but is right footed, which makes many observes stick with the natural left-footer, Collins, but the youngster will have nothing of a ‘sacred-cow-tag’ that he has been accorded.
Rather than take comfort in those assertions, Collins says he does not see himself as the Eagles’ first choice left back, despite playing the entire duration of both recent matches against Libya.
Collins, who impressed in Uyo and Sfax, was relatively unknown before Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr invited him for the previous Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles.
The Franco-German tactician left Collins out of the match when the lad copped an injury, only to hand him his debut in a friendly against Liberia three days later.
After starring in three straight matches for the Eagles, Collins appears to be the new kid on the block, but the Cupid-faced dark-skinned lad insists he still has to work harder to cement his spot in the Nigerian squad.
Collins stressed: “I’m not the first choice left back yet. It’s too early to say because quality players like Bryan Idowu and others are still around.
“Favour found me in the games against Libya now I have to work hard, I mean really hard to keep my spot in the team.”
