Fresh facts have emerged over issues that accounted for the removal of SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen’s name from Nigeria’s squad list for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Super Eagles’ fans were shocked on Thursday when news emerged that Osimhen had been replaced by Olympiakos of Greece striker, Henry Onyekuru, but a camp source has now disclosed that the Napoli star pleaded to be excused on health grounds.
Indeed, Osimhen led a spree of withdrawals that hit the Eagles’ AFCON list over a spate of 24 hours, as injuries forced out Leon Aderemi Balogun and Shehu Abdullahi, while Watford of England refused to release Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis for the upcoming competition.
The scenario that played out with Dennis is similar to that of Osimhen, only that he is not injured, but the English Premier League side insisted that the invitation letter calling up their player came late from Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
On the other hand, Napoli have repeatedly stated that Osimhen is not fit enough to play at AFCON 2021, considering that he is yet to fully recover from a facial injury he suffered last month.
Although the Chile 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup gold medalist and highest goals scorer miraculously resumed individual training in Naples, his club’s doctors stressed that he cannot recover fully in under three months.
The NFF, though, opted to enforce FIFA rules over the release of players, thereby ordering Osimhen into the Eagles’ camp after going for his final scan in Italy on Friday, but the lad reportedly contracted covid-19 during his 23rd birthday party on Wednesday.
In the wake of startling reports on Thursday that Osimhen was already in isolation because of the coronavirus infection, information spread from the Eagles’ camp that his name had been removed from Nigeria’s squad list for AFCON 2021.
However, an inside source in the Eagles’ camp has now added that the interim head coach, Augustine Eguavoen only took that decision after Osimhen personally appealed to be left out of the impending campaign in Cameroon.
Osimhen apparently reached that shock choice out of caution and deep reasoning, as the saga had turned scary and potentially career damaging.
Napoli’s top shots were already threatening legal action against the NFF should Osimhen play in Cameroon, one of their doctors even said it would be a miracle for him to feature, and the covid-19 infection, though debatable, provided the final nail in the coffin.
The source submitted: “Osimhen is out of AFCON. The coach has released him as a result of his club’s request and his plea to opt out, due to his health condition. We shall miss him, but his health is more important.”
