Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has hinted that the loss of Tammy Abraham won’t affect his team despite insisting that the Chelsea forward would have improved his squad.
Abraham turned down the chance to represent Nigeria in preference for England where he rose through the ranks and played for their senior national team in a friendly game last year. Last night he made his competitive debut for England in their 1-2 loss to Czech Republic.
The game means he is no longer eligible for Nigeria despite lasting a little over three minutes on the pitch following his introduction as a substitute. Rohr insist that the striker who has seven goals for Chelsea this season would have probably played same substitute role for Nigeria if he had agreed to switch allegiance.
According to Rohr, Abraham would have played second fiddle to his current first choice striker Victor Osimhen who plays for French side Lille where he also has seven goals from the first nine games of the season.
” Abraham would have improved our team because he is a quality player but he still wouldn’t have picked an automatic shirt to start. Osimhen now has it and he will have to earn it. Like others who switched allegiance did, the likes of Tyronne Ebuehi and Ola Aina. His loss is not something we can’t do without. We wish him well with England “, the coach told Owngoalnigeria.com.
