Swedish league goal tender Jonathan Rasheed offers to help solve Nigeria's goalkeeping problems

SWEDISH premier league club Värnamo's goalkeeper Jonathan Rasheed has offered to help solve Nigeria's current goalkeeping problems by making himself available to Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro for future matches.

Nigeria is currently facing a goalkeeping crisis as her two first choice goalkeepers Francis Uzoho and Maduka Okoye are proving very unreliable. Apart from the fact that they make constant howlers when manning goal for Nigeria, neither of them is seeing first team, action with his club, making them both unsuitable for a major tournament like the African Cup of Nations or the World Cup.

Last Friday for instance, Uzoho cost Nigeria victory in a friendly against Saudi Arabia when he diverted an innocuous cross into his own net. His constant blunders have led to calls for the commencement of a search for new goalkeepers as this appears to be the weakest department in the squad at the moment.

Rasheed, 31, a tri-national player, who is eligible to play for the Super Eagles through his father, Norway through his Norwegian mother and Sweden where he was born, has offered to help solve the problem. He has revealed that he would be willing to represent Nigeria's senior national team if called up by the Nigeria Football Federation.

Since the retirement of former Wolverhampton Wanderers' Carl Ikeme, who registered an impressive seven clean sheets in his ten appearances for the Super Eagles, Nigeria has not been able to find a reliable goalkeeper. Gothenburg-born Rasheed won the Swedish Allsvenskan title with Hacken in 2022 and signed for Värnamo at the start of the season, making four appearances for them so far.

Rasheed said: "I haven’t had any contact personally with the Nigerian federation or coaching staff but a couple of years ago I think there were some kind of discussions. It’s been a good season for me and my team. 

"I’m a goalkeeper that likes to be involved in the game with my feet and a shot-stopper with good reflexes, always talking to my teammates to help them. Since I was little I’ve wanted to represent the Super Eagles."

He added that he keeps abreast of developments in the Super Eagles and reckons that Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is the X-factor player in the team. Rasheed also added that Spanish goalkeeper  Iker Casillas was always his role model.