It is becoming increasingly a straight slug out between former Mali coach Eric Chelle and Tom Sainfiet, who headed the Gambia for several years, for the vacant Super Eagles post.

This comes with the admission of several top officials that the NFF cannot meet the $180,000-a-month salary demanded by Herve Renard.

“Yes, Renard has asked for a salary of $180,000 a month, that’s too high. He will really be too expensive for us to hire,” one official told SCORENigeria

Except the Federal Government intervenes in this case again, the NFF cannot afford the highly-sought-after Frenchman.

Chelle has attracted a lot of support from top officials in the last couple of days.

The 46-year-old coach, born in Cote d’Ivoire to a Malian mother and French father, has made a great impression in his two years in charge of the Eagles of Mali.

The former RC Lens captain posted a decent record with only two losses in 22 games.

In March, he led Mali to outclass the Super Eagles 2-0 in a friendly in Morocco.

Last month, he was fired after Mali were held to a goalless draw by hosts Madagascar in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in South Africa.

Like Chelle, Saintfiet is deeply rooted in African football and he is also affordable.

The Belgian was close to working in Nigeria in 2012 and has not hidden his deep admiration for Nigeria football even saying the Super Eagles could surpass Morocco’s World Cup semifinal finish because of the abundance of talent in the country.

The fourth shortlisted coach for the Super Eagles, Steve McClaren, has never worked in Africa and that will work seriously against him particularly as the team will first get going again with AFCON qualifiers in September.