The decision not to play Benjamin Fredrick in the Super Eagles AFCON qualifiers games against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau respectively was largely due to an instruction from English Premier League side Brentford, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Fredrick recently returned from a 9 months injury lay off and made the bench for Brentford in their last two consecutive games, before teaming up with the Nigerian team for the 2027 AFCON qualifiers.
We can exclusively reveal that before coming to the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria, Brentford made it clear that the 20 year old can only play a combined total of 90 minutes over both games, as he is still not at the level of playing full consecutive games within a short period.
Chelle decided not to risk him against Madagascar and against Guinea-Bissau, the condition of the pitch wasn’t ideal enough to play a player who isn’t fully fit, hence the decision to play Bright Osayi-Samuel at right back when it emerged that Ola Aina won’t be able to play on that bad surface.
The idea now is for Fredrick to play in the October 6th friendly game against Russia in Moscow, and he is expected to play at least 45 minutes per what we exclusively gathered.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
