The plans of having Heerenveen sensation Chidera Ejuke by coach Imama Amapakabo of the Nigeria U23 for his team’s campaign at the U23 Africa Cup of Nations has suffered a fatal blow as Heerenveen won’t be releasing him.
Imama invited the 21 year old to his team for the tournament but despite assurances by the player that he will be available. Heerenveen have replied the mail sent by the secretary of the Nigeria team that Ejuke who was voted the young player of the month in the Dutch Eredivisie won’t be honouring the call.
Ejuke personally told the coach that he will be available for the tournament but that is not the case anymore with Heerenveen only open to the idea of releasing him for games that fall inside the FIFA window for international games.
Frank Onyeka of Danish side FC Midtjylland was also blocked by his club from featuring at the tournament for Nigeria as they will be having games within the time of the tournament and Onyeka is expected to play a huge part.
The unavailability of both players now mean the coach have to switch to other players who were originally not in his plans or were not his preferred choice as he bid to secure Tokyo 2020 spot for Nigeria by finishing among the top three nations at the end of the tournament next month.
