Emmanuel Fernandez Another Chelle’s Coup

Since his appointment as head coach of Nigeria’s senior football team, Eric Chelle is known to have injected some young blood into the Super Eagles fold, and another name may be joining the three-time African champions after the Malian-born tactician sent scouts to Scotland to watch Rangers’ centre-back, Emmanuel Fernandez, born to Nigerian parents, and has recently been in the midst of a transfer battle between London rivals – Arsenal and Chelsea

According to latest reports making the rounds, Nigeria’s national football team head coach, Eric Chelle has been sounded out about the potential inclusion of Glasgow Rangers centre-back, Emmanuel Fernandez in the Super Eagles squad ahead of their international fixtures in March 2026.

Born in London, the highly-rated Rangers centre-back has impressed in recent weeks after breaking into the Scottish giants’ starting lineup.

Fernandez has pledged his international future to Nigeria, opting to represent the Super Eagles over his country of birth, England.

At present, there has been no direct contact between Chelle and Fernandez, though that could change in the coming weeks if the defender receives positive evaluations from the scouting team.

Chelle’s scouts are expected to thoroughly assess the dual-national defender before a decision is made on whether to extend an invitation to the 24-year-old for next month’s fixtures.

Fernandez will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Rangers stars, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, both of whom earned their Nigeria debuts while at Ibrox.

The Malian tactician will oversee the Super Eagles in the first FIFA international window of 2026 amid speculation linking him to the vacant managerial position at Marseille.

Chelle has ruled himself out of consideration for the Marseille role, expressing confidence that former Aston Villa and Newcastle United right-back Habib Beye will secure the position.

The coach has roughly one year remaining on his contract with the Super Eagles, whom he led to a third-place finish at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Meanwhile, Fernandez has emerged as a surprise transfer target for both Arsenal and Chelsea this summer.

The Light Blues made major moves in the transfer windows this season, including last summer, when they splashed just under £4m to bring in the 6ft4 central defender from Peterborough, and they currently sit two points behind league leaders, Hearts, following a huge 4-2 win this past weekend.

But after a mixed season of results, recent months have seen some stability emerge, and the performances of Fernandez in the centre of defence have attracted the attention of a number of top clubs across Europe.

Fernandez, who has been compared to Virgil Van Dijk for his style of play, has emerged as a key player under Danny Rohl alongside John Souttar in the heart of the defence, helping the team to the second-best defensive record in the league, with 21 goals conceded.

His performances have seen clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea take a close look at his situation ahead of the summer transfer window. A move is not believed to be imminent, and no talks have been held, but a final decision is expected to be made once the season concludes.

Several clubs in Europe, including Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, are understood to have shown an interest in January, and Fernandez has shown a preference to move to the Bundesliga, but Rangers blocked any mid-season deal from occurring.

Interestingly, Fernandez is ignoring transfer speculation to focus on Rangers’ pursuit of domestic success after their disappointing Europa League campaign ended.

The centre-back, who moved to Ibrox on a four-year deal from Peterborough last summer, has reportedly attracted interest from German giants Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen this month.

But, speaking after the 3-1 defeat at Porto, 24-year-old Fernandez said: “Honestly, I haven’t even heard about it.

“I’m focused on what’s going on here and I’m focused on being successful for this club. “We’ve just got to keep moving, keep going, keep grinding and we’ll get results.”

Defeat in Portugal halted Rangers’ eight-game winning streak but Fernandez is confident Danny Rohl’s side can quickly put the setback behind them as they embark on the domestic title run-in.

The Ibrox side, four points behind leaders Hearts, travel to Easter Road on Saturday to face fifth-place Hibs.

“Look, we’re out of this competition, but we’ve got 15 games to go, and a lot to do in these 15 games,” Fernandez said.

“We know it’s a big 15 games left but I feel like we just need to take it game by game, focus on each game and bring a good performance.

“I feel like as much as we’ve got to focus on other teams, we’ve got to focus on ourselves as well, we’ve got to focus on bringing the best of ourselves each game and make sure that every game we bring a good result.

“I feel like everyone’s come together and we’re putting in results. I feel like there’s a lot more to come from this team. We put this game to rest. We don’t think about it and we move on to the next.”

Asked what would be the key factor to Rangers being successful this season, he added: “I think being a team, that’s the main thing for every single game, then we know that there are positives that come from that. If we don’t be a team, then it’s going to be a difficult moment.

“As long as we’re connected on the pitch and we’re connected as a group off the pitch then there’s not really many teams that can come up against us and take us toe to toe.

“I back every person in the team. I think we all back each other and I feel like whatever happens, then we still have a strong squad.”

Fernandez won Glasgow Rangers’ Player of the Month award for January after being recognised for his strong defensive displays during the month under review.

The Gers conceded just one goal in January. It’s the first time the centre-back will be winning the individual accolade since his arrival at the club.

Fernandez joined Rangers from English club Peterborough United last summer.

The 24-year-old has scored four times in 15 league appearances for the Light Blues this season.