Akwa United have asked all their players to go on break and announced that any player contacted through phone calls will be retained ahead of the next season which is expected to start this month, National Mirror can exclusively report.
One of the players told National Mirror that the management only paid them some percentage of last season's entitlements and asked them to go on break.
"There's a height of anxiety among the players because those of us who will eventually not receive phone calls will automatically be thrown into the transfer market," the anonymous player lamented.
"We're not even sure who will play at Akwa United this season because of this policy. This has been in practice for some time and the players are not happy about it.
"We were not paid in full of our sign-on fees for last season and what happens to our outstanding fees should some of us not retained for this season?
"Some of the players who feel they won't be favoured by this policy are scared and are thinking of looking elsehwre."
Akwa United only missed the chop by hair's breadth this past season and needed 1-1 draw against Kwara United to stay afloat.
They deserve the rest because they've worked very hard for it. Kudos to them.
This is a wonderful way to handle football in Nigeria especially when we're talking club football. Now the players will feel the heat