Shaun Bartlett, a former South Africa national team player, has snubbed Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen and Alex Iwobi as he picked Nigeria’s most important player in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
According to him, midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi has been the Super Eagle’s unsung hero.
He said Ndidi, who plays as a defensive midfielder, should get more attention for his great performances during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria did not have Ndidi in their Wednesday semifinal match against Morocco in Rabat because he was suspended.
Ndidi, who plays for Besiktas, got two yellow cards and was suspended for the game against Morocco.
When he was not there, the Super Eagles had a hard time taking control in the middle of the field.
Before facing the Atlas Lions, Nigeria had won every game they played, scoring 14 goals in total as they made it to the semifinals.
For the first time in the tournament, the Super Eagles were second best in possession against Morocco, showing how much the team missed a natural ball-winning midfielder.
Because of this, Nigeria’s attack, which was led by Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Akor Adams, and Alex Iwobi, was successfully stopped.
Bartlett thinks that Ndidi’s job in the middle of the team is not getting enough attention, and instead, people are focusing more on players like Osimhen and Lookman.
“When we watch Nigeria and Ndidi plays, no one talks about it. We speak about Lookman, Osimhen. Bartlett said on SuperSport’s Afcon podcast.
“It’s the most overlooked position. Even if you look around the world, you see players like Busquets from Spain, Makélélé at Chelsea, or N’Golo Kanté and Roy Keane from Manchester United — they were all doing the hard, dirty work.
“But who ends up getting the praise and the acknowledgment? The attacking players. Yesterday, you could tell they needed someone who stayed calm and was steady.
“We all praised Iwobi for his passes, but Ndidi was doing his part.”
Ndidi scored his first goal for the national team during the Super Eagles’ big win against Tunisia in the group stage of the 2025 Afcon.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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