Former CAF African Player of The Year and Super Eagles winger, Emmanuel Amunike has denied voting for Mohammed Salah over Nigeria’s Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen.
In the video posted by CAF, Amuneke, along with many other African football legends were on a bus and there was a debate among some of the former players, particularly among the North African rivals, about who he would pick between Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and Egyptian Mohammed Salah.
In a chat with Brila FM, Amuneke explained that: “There is nothing in the video, I think It was on our way to a novelty game that we were going to play. And this player that was a captain of the Egyptian national team that won the AFCON three times, Hassan Hossam Yeah, yeah, he is venturing into media, podcast on all that very soon and he was, you know, trying to build relationship with the legends in the bus.”
“So they came with their Arab politics and they were saying Hakimi or Salah, you know, they were asking everybody, one by one and, I played in Egypt so I just said Salah that is what I just responded to them.”
“There was no conversation about the three players, but of course, people will always speak what is suitable to them, but we close to Osimhen, I saw him yesterday, even he was the one that saw me when I was leaving the hotel, he ran down from his own room to come and embrace me.
“We know ourselves, we know everything and we know we’re happy for him and that we know what we have told them, right for when they were young, and all those things that I have preached to them, all thsoe things that I have told them is what you are seeing today. And this one, we are happy and we are happy that he won it.”
“It does not bother me, I am used to what people say about me and I can tell you right from the day I came into the national team as a coach, a lot of things has been said about me, and I think, the only thing that is remaining for people to talk about me is that I was caught with drugs or maybe they saw human parts in my bag.
“So, a lot has been said about me but I am focused. Once you are a leader, you should expect people to say a lot of things, even those who know you and those that don’t know you will say a lot of things.
“For me, criticism is not what bothers me, I am focused in what I want to do, as long as I am alive, as long as I am existing, I am focused and responsible, if I am given opportunity to do what I need to do, I’m focused and I’m responsible to try as much as I can as a human being to do the best I can.”
