Nwabali Insists He Is Not Desperate To Leave South Africa For Europe

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali has said he is not bothered about leaving the South African football league for a club in Europe.

Since Stanley Nwabali gave a five-star performance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations between January 13 and February 11, 2024, there have been a series of speculations that he is wanted by some European clubs.

CityNews recalls that the 27-year-old former Enyimba of Aba goalkeeper helped the Super Eagles to get to the final of the 2023 AFCON where Nigeria lost 2-1 to the hosts, Ivory Coast.

Due to their skills of making critical saves and stopping penalty kicks, clubs like Queens Park Rangers, Union St Gilloise and El-Ettifaq of the Saudi Pro League reportedly showed interest in him.

South African giants Kaizer Chiefs also had an interest in buying him away from Chippa United. Unfortunately, nothing concrete has happened yet.

But that is not getting Stanley Nwabali worried as he stressed that the South African league is relatively good enough for a professional footballer who doesn’t want to challenge himself.

“Ronwen Williams is at Sundowns, he gets everything he wants, he’s got the name, the sponsor, his family is here, everyone is supporting him, he’s the captain of Bafana Bafana, to me the league is okay,” Nwabali told Far Post.

“The league, the pay is a little bit nice for [depending on] a certain level of your team. It’s not like in West Africa where our leagues are not that good. We want to go to Europe, we want to go to South Africa, we want to go to Morocco, all those kinds of leagues. If your league is nice there’s no point in you leaving.

“If your league is nice, you’re getting paid, you’re getting sponsors, what are you leaving for?

“If you want to challenge yourself, you can still leave. It depends on you if you can cope there, if you can’t cope there, it’s fine to just come back and play your football.”