AFCON 2021: Eagles will miss Osimhen, says Ekong

Super Eagles vice captain, William Troost-Ekong, has said that Nigeria will miss Victor Osimhen when the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off on Sunday in Cameroon.

He lamented that the Napoli star who withdrew from the AFCON squad after contracting COVID-19 remains ‘one of the hottest strikers in the world’ at the moment.

Nigeria are facing a striker crisis before their opening game at the AFCON after Osimhen, Emanuel Dennis and Paul Onuachu were ruled out of the tournament due to a combination of injuries, Covid and non-release by their European clubs.

And to make matters worse, Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab are refusing to release their top scorer Odion Ighalo to the Nigeria Football Federation.

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It means there are only two out-and-out center forwards currently with the team, Taiwo Awoniyi and Sadiq Umar who are very inexperienced at international level with only one game between them.

Speaking at Tuesday’s press conference, Troost-Ekong said the consolation remains the fact that the Super Eagles are blessed with player who are prolific finishers.

“Luckily we have many players here who can score goals, for their clubs they are in form and I think that’s the beauty about tournament football, there’s always new players that will stand up and show themselves.

“At the last AFCON Victor didn’t play until the very last game. Of course we are going to miss Victor very much, he’s probably one of the hottest strikers in the world right now,” the Watford defender said.