Rohr says agents are trying to influence his 35-man World Cup list due to be submitted tomorrow

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has revealed that several agents have attempted to influence his choice of players for the national team ahead of Monday’s deadline for naming a 35-man provisional squad for the World Cup.

Fifa has requested that all of the 32 teams participating in this summer's World Cup should present a provisional squad of 35 by tomorrow. This list will then be whittled down to 23 when the tournament begins and those who make the final cut will be registered as official participants in the Mundial.

Like all the managers, Mr Rohr is working on his list with the view to having it ready but the task in difficult as several players are returning from injury and there are a few others he still wants to look at before including them. Yesterday, Mr Rohr admitted that there has been renewed pressure from these agents as the price of their clients would rise if they are included on the roster.

However, he has made it clear he has no intention of dropping the players that qualified Nigeria for the tournament in Russia. It appears that Mr Rohr will include the tried and trusted players he worked with during qualification and boost the list further with a few new faces.

Mr Rohr said: “Some agents are calling me or sending me messages about their players they want me to take them. They try to do some things but they see that I don’t accept their proposals, although I have a look, sometimes, as they try to work for the players which is normal.

"I have never been under pressure and I never collected money to take one player because they know my reputation. During my 45 years in professional football, I never did it."