Posted by By Miebi Senge on
SUPER Eagles skipper, Austin Jay Jay Okocha and full back, Joseph Yobo were on their way last night to Bangkok, Thailand with their English Premiership sides - Bolton Wanderers and Everton - for the PA Premier League Asia Trophy chase, which also includes Manchester City and the Thai national team.
SUPER Eagles skipper, Austin Jay Jay Okocha and full back, Joseph Yobo were on their way last night to Bangkok, Thailand with their English Premiership sides - Bolton Wanderers and Everton - for the PA Premier League Asia Trophy chase, which also includes Manchester City and the Thai national team.
Okocha who last week called on Bolton boss, Sam Allardyce, to beef up the squad ahead of the new season, which will also see them feature in the UEFA Cup competition for the first time in their over 100 years history, leads a 21-man team that includes only one new face in assistant goalkeeper, Ian Walker.
Although Senegalese international El-Hajj Diouf, who recently signed a 4 million pounds four years deal with the side is on the trip, he cannot be said to be a new face as he spent last season with the side on loan from European Champions, Liverpool.
The tour is used as a pre-season training programme for teams to tune up their squads. Bolton are off to Japan after the Thai trip for the second phase of the programme.
Allardyce told Manchester Evening News that: "It's going to be an exciting tour and we must make sure we get everything out of it in terms of preparations for the start of the Premiership.
"Training will be tough as conditions will be very hot and humid but we have prepared professionally. We are taking a full squad and everyone is fit and ready for action."
The Trotters face City in a derby Wednesday that will greatly reveal the face of football in Manchester in the new season with City just losing winger Shawn Wright-Phillip to ‘rampaging' Chelsea in a multi-million dollars deal.