Sunday Oliseh, a former head coach of the Super Eagles, has hit out at John Mikel Obi after the ex-Chelsea midfielder questioned his coaching ability on his podcast.
Oliseh was in charge of the Nigerian national team for eight months from July 2015.
His stint in charge was marred with controversies, leading to his eventual resignation.
Mikel Obi, who was one of the senior players at the time, recently said Oliseh was a great individual but he knew nothing about coaching.
In a new interview with Elegbete TV, Oliseh fired back at Mikel Obi.
He said: “I think the kid (Mikel) needs help, to be honest. There’s something I’ve not really shown much, I won the best coach for the first period of the Jupiler League, which is in the Dutch league.
“That was not voted by the press, that was voted by the players and the coaches of the league.
“I’m the only, and the first coloured man from Sub-Saharan Africa to ever win this title with a club like Fortuna Duesseldorf, who had very average players who were able to qualify from the second division from last position to the first division, where they still are now.
“I don’t need to justify myself being a good coach or anything to the kid. I call him (Mikel) a kid because my son is 27 years old.
“When he made this statement, I heard about it, but I couldn’t go on television and start arguing with someone like him. It’s degrading as a coach, you don’t go into the media and start arguing with your player.
“But I would like to help the boy because I think he needs some help. You cannot become a legend with your mouth.
“You cannot achieve what you were not able to achieve on the pitch outside the pitch by talking on a podcast.”