Nantes of France defender Chidozie Awaziem has praised the amount of work put into making him a better defender by coach of the Nigeria national team Gernot Rohr and his club coach Claudio Ranieri.
Awaziem has grown in leaps and bounds since joining the Ligue 1 side on loan from FC Porto where he was mainly with the B team last season despite making his breakthrough into the first team the previous season.
He is now among the first name on the team sheet at Nantes since the start of the season, a form which has helped him cement his spot in the senior national team of Nigeria.
” I must say it has not been easy for me prior to now but working with Ranieri at Nantes and Rohr with the Nigeria national team has helped me a lot. Both men are very experienced in grooming defenders, I’m so lucky to be working with them”, Awaziem told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” There’s a whole lot of similarities in the way they want their team to defend, that has helped me a lot, and I must say the trust given to me by both men has also impacted positively on my confidence and form of late.
” The goal is to keep playing and improving at Nantes because the World Cup is one tournament every player wish to play, and my dream will come true if I maintain my current form or even improve it with Nantes”, Awaziem concluded.
Osas Mahawi
