The 28-year-old is having a record-breaking season in the Italian top-flight, but it may still not be enough to earn a Super Eagles recall
Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has cast doubt on a potential return for Simy Nwankwo to the national team despite his exploits in the Italian Serie A.
Simy scored twice in Crotone’s 4-3 win at Parma on Saturday to take his league tally to 19 goals in 33 appearances this season.
But that was not the only story as he set two new records following his latest brace. The 28-year-old’s 19 league goals mean he’s now the highest-scoring Nigerian in a single campaign in Europe’s top five leagues.
Simy beat Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s record of 17 goals for Blackburn Rovers in the 2011/2012 Premier League season.
Also, he moved past Obafemi Martins as the highest-scoring Nigerian in the Italian top-flight. However, despite this remarkable feat, his time in the Super Eagles squad appears to be over after Rohr shut the door on him.
Speaking in an interview with Elegbete TV, Rohr revealed he already knows what Simy can offer, and it may be difficult for him to get another chance due to the array of talents in the Super Eagles attack.
“You know that I invited Simy already for the last World Cup, and he was with us in Russia, and he came in sometimes,” Rohr said
“Now we have so many strikers, unfortunately, we cannot play with five centre forwards, when you see the centre forwards we have already the competition is so big that it’s not easy for anybody to come in our team.
“We have Onuachu, we have Osimhen, we have Kelechi, who scored and going to the final of the FA Cup.
We have also perhaps the comeback of Ighalo, it could be interesting also. We have Sadiq Umar, who I invited, I wanted to see him for the first time last time, but his club did not release him.
Rohr added that Sadiq Umar, who is also having an equally fantastic season with Almeria, deserves a chance ahead of the Crotone striker.
But that may not be even possible because it’s too late to experiment with the World Cup qualifiers starting soon.
“Sadiq deserves also a chance – one of the best centre forwards in Spain, actually. “Simy, I know him very well, and so I didn’t have to invite him again to know how he is.
“The last matches were the last opportunity also for me to see some new players because now we go to the World Cup and now will be too late to make experimentation.
“I know already Simy very well; he is a very good player”.
Simy has four caps for Nigeria, two of which came under three minutes at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
