Coaches of the senior national team of Nigeria led by coach Gernot Rohr have privately expressed concerns over the absence of Odion Ighalo in the camp of the team.
The Al Shabab forward was expected to be in camp yesterday but as at the time of filing in this report he is yet to arrive Morocco ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Liberia which takes place in two days time.
Ighalo accepted a return to the team but it seems he wasn’t looking at an instant invitation and coupled with the backlash that has accompanied his return to the team, coaches fear he could make a u-turn on his decision.
“It’s six hours from Saudi Arabia to Morocco but he isn’t here yet. It’s a cause of concern to the technical crew. Their fear is that he might backtrack on the call up. He is usually among the first to arrive camp before his decision to retire from international football”, a team source told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
” The backlash over his call up hasn’t helped as well and from what we gathered he wasn’t expecting a quick invitation after agreeing to return to the team. We are hoping it ends well”, he concluded.
Meanwhile first choice striker of the team Victor Osimhen has welcomed the return of Ighalo terming him as someone he will learn a lot from.
“We will welcome him with open arms and looking forward to receiving him in the camp.
“Like I said before he’s like a big brother to me and we love him a lot and I’ll learn a lot from him, I admire him so much so I think for me it’s one of the most important things to have him in the squad.
We all have a common goal to qualify the nation for the World Cup and to do well in the AFCON so whatsoever thing that is good for the team I think the coach and the Federation will bring it into play,” Osimhen said in a video on the official Facebook handle of the Nigerian team.
