Watford striker Odion Ighalo has failed to impress Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr and he could subsequently be replaced by younger strikers Olanrewaju Kayode and Victor Osimhen in the Super Eagles.
Team officials said Ighalo will be dropped permanently from the Super Eagles as he has scored just one goal after 11 weeks of action in the Premier League in England, added to the fact that he has only scored one goal for the Super Eagles in a competitive match.
That goal came in a 2017 AFCON qualifier against Chad in Kaduna in June 2015.
If Kayode Olanrewaju, who has been prolific so far for Austria Wien in all competitions this season, and Victor Osimhen, who is soon to sign a professional deal with Bundesliga side Wolfsburg shone against Egypt in Dubai in a friendly in January, that could well spell the end of Ighalo’s time in the national team.
Rohr has already said he was so impressed with the performance of Osimhen in the build-up to the Tanzania match and will offer him another opportunity to show he were ready for the big stage.
“Rohr has not been impressed with the performance of Odion Ighalo and Brown Ideye,” revealed a team official.
“Against Tanzania, Ighalo was wasteful and hardly had two shots on goal, while against Zambia, Ideye was full of endeavour, while others were scoring the goals. On both occasions it took the efforts of supporting strikers for the Eagles to claim maximum points. “
A disappointed Rohr will then consign both Ighalo and Ideye to the bench for the entire 90 minutes as the Super Eagles beat Algeria 3-1 in Uyo last weekend.
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