Super Eagles assistant coach, Finidi George, has revealed why he asked for the jersey of Portuguese defender, Pepe, after Thursday’s international friendly against Portugal in Lisbon.
Finidi was widely chastised on social media for allegedly squabbling over Pepe’s jersey with Moses Simon.
However, the former Ajax player revealed that the incident was greatly exaggerated and that he was not star-struck, jostling for jerseys for personal use.
Finidi clarified that the request for Pepe’s jersey was made for his son, who is a fan of both the FC Porto defender and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“My son asked me two weeks ago if it’s possible to get the shirt of Ronaldo or Pepe because he’s a very big fan of Real Madrid when they were at the club and I told him I will try,”Finidi said.
“Getting to the field, we knew Ronaldo wasn’t going to start because he was sick. So I told Pepe in the tunnel, please after the game, I would like to have the shirt for my son. So, he told me that was fine. After the game, I saw he was changing his shirt with one of the players and I went to remind him of what we said in the tunnel before the game started.”
“He said he was going to give his shirt to a Super Eagles player (Zaidu Sanusi) playing in his club (Porto), and that definitely, I will get the shirt. I was speaking Spanish with him and that was it.”
“People just want to twist things and the real reason for me,” he continued.
“I’ve had many jerseys in my playing days and I don’t need Pepe’s shirt for myself. Where am I going to keep it? I don’t have a museum. It’s just that my son is a big fan and wanted me to ask.
“That’s what I did. I don’t know how getting something for my son and becomes viral on Social Media. It’s crazy mehn! I thought we should be talking about the game. But it was like I’m trending.” Finidi added.
