In the absence of injured Wilfred Ndidi, Gernot Rohr has only extended invitations to four centre midfielders ahead of clashes against Sierra Leone last week
Vitoria Guimaraes midfielder Mikel Agu has expressed his disappointment at being left out of the Nigerian squad set to go against Sierra Leone on November 13 and 17.
The former Club Brugge star is one of Nigeria’s most consistent starters in a top league in Europe.
Agu has been featured in five out of six outings for Portuguese Primeira Liga side Guimaraes, helping Joao Henriques’ team occupy the sixth position after accruing ten points so far.
The 27-year-old has, however, only earned seven international caps since making his Super Eagles debut in a 3-0 friendly triumph over Togo on June 1, 2017.
Head coach Gernot Rohr recalled Agu for the national team’s friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia in October after mostly snubbing him in the past two years.
The latest snub has, however, made the former Bursaspor ace disillusioned over his inability to nail down a regular place in the Nigerian senior national team.
“I have done everything on my own part to settle in the national team, yet I get ignored sometimes, I know my time is yet to come with the national team,” he told Completesports.
“I just want to make one thing clear. In the games that I have played in, my comfortable position as a holding four, one was against Togo in Paris, and the other was against Uganda in Asaba, I was one of the outstanding players in both games.
“I think the only game in which I didn’t play well was against Zambia in Uyo, and that was because I had an off-day, which is normal with every player.
“You can’t be 100 percent every day. So, if I get to play in my natural position, then I know I will always give my best every time I’m on the pitch. I will continue to do my thing here in my club.”
Genk forward Cyriel Dessers earlier voiced his unhappiness at being snubbed by Rohr for the Super Eagles’ doubleheader during the next international break.
Nigeria and Sierra Leone meet in Benin City on November 13 and face each other again four days later in Freetown.
The three-time African champions currently lead their Afcon qualifying group with six points claimed from victories over the Benin Republic and Lesotho.
This post was last modified on November 5, 2020 11:21 am