Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle picked just four defenders in his final 28 man list for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
The decision of William Troost-Ekong to quit international football after making the provisional list of 54 players meant the option in central defence moved from five to four.
Chelle is also handicapped with the fact that Hamburg defender Jordan Torunarigha asked to be left out of the team, with no assurance of getting regular game time at the tournament.
A replacement for Ekong would have been the ideal thing to do, but sources say the coach is satisfied with the options available to him, and has picked the quartet of Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem and Igoh Ogbu.
He has also settled for four full backs with the duo of Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ryan Alebiosu as right back. Zaidu Sanusi and Bruno Onyemaechi will be his options at left back bringing to ten the total number of defenders.
LASK defender Emmanuel Michael is said to be in with an outside chance of making the team, but as the time of this report a decision hasn’t been made yet.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
