AFCON: Why Iheanacho, Ajayi were left out

As Nigeria prepares for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations starting later this month in Egypt, Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr has given his reason for dropping Semi Ajayi and Iheanacho from his quad.

Rohr explained that he was left with a choice to pick either Ajayi or Mikel for the Midfield position then he and his team decided to go for the former Chelsea man.

“We had soo many good strikers, that we had to put away a striker and also a defensive midfielder; Obi Mikel coming back has been well integrated in the group so we had to put out our player Semi Ajayi and also one striker [Iheanacho], who is missing a little bit confidence,” he said.

“It was very difficult to decide but everybody in my staff; we are five people, we agreed about the two names.

“So, I think this decision was very objective because it was never a good decision to take, but we had to do it and we did it and the two players had very good professional attitude and accepted this decision.”