Leicester City rave of the moment Ademola Lookman has been clearer by FIFA to play for Nigeria but was dropped by interim coach Austine Eguavoen, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Lookman who has scored in his last two games for Leicester City against Manchester City and the winner against Liverpool yesterday was included in the 40 man list submitted by ex coach of the team Gernot Rohr.
The ex England international was picked by Rohr after getting the all clear by FIFA to play for Nigeria after representing England at several youth levels. He was even contacted by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and confirmed his availability for the tournament.
However new coach Austine Eguavoen opt against including him in his 28 man list for the tournament which starts in January next year for reasons best known to him according to a board member of the NFF.
” Lookman is cleared to play for Nigeria and he was even contacted on his availability in January which he confirmed. New coach Eguavoen however didn’t pick him in his squad. So it’s not our fault we did our own part in getting him cleared”, he explained.
Per a document made available to our editorial team, Lookman is the 37th name on Rohr’s list and his status was confirmed by CAF as eligible to play for Nigeria. He however didn’t make the cut after Eguavoen trimmed the squad to 28.
