The captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has reportedly pulled out of Nigeria’s friendly games against Senegal and Burkina-Faso .

Owngoalnigeria.com gathered from reports sourced in the Nigerian media, that the 29 year old has been granted permission by coach Gernot Rohr to miss the games.

Mikel requested to be left out of the game to enable him settle down properly at his new club Tianjin Teda, particularly as the Chinese Super League will just be few weeks old at the time of the games.

For now Mikel is the only player among the three Super Eagles players playing in China who have requested to be left out of the game, as the duo of Brown Ideye and Odion Ighalo are yet to toe same line.

The games will be played in London and it’s meant to prepare the Eagles for their Nations Cup 2019 qualifiers as well as the World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Belgian side Gent gave themselves a glimmer of hope of making it into the Belgium League play offs with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Royal Excel Mouscron.

Gent started with two of the five Nigerians at the club in Anderson Esiti and Samuel Kalu who scored the opening goal of the game. His second goal since his transfer from Slovakian side AS Trencin in January.

Esiti lasted 67 minutes before he was replaced. The giant midfielder has grown into an integral member of the club as he has started their last four games in all competitions.

Meanwhile Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong endured another frustrating time on the bench for the fourth consecutive league game.

He was left on the bench for the entire duration of the game alongside Moses Simon, who was rested after his midweek exploit against Tottenham Hotspur, while Rabiu Ibrahim return from a tendon injury appears to be complete as he made the bench.

Highly rated Swiss-Nigerian defender Manuel Akanji continued his fine form for FC Basel starring in their 3-1 win over Luzern.

Akanji has enjoyed a splendid 2017 so far as all of his four appearances in the league has come since the resumption of the league in January, with a goal to his name.

He joined the Swiss giants from second division side Winterthur after making 35 league appearances before turning 18 years old.

21 year old Akanji has already represented Switzerland at youth level but still remains eligible for Nigeria at senior level, although he is yet to be approached by Nigeria according to reports gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com.

Former Golden Eaglet and Flying Eagles captain Musa Mohammed made his league debut for Bosnian side FK Zeljeznicar in their 0-1 loss to FK Krupa.

He joined FK Zeljeznicar on a six months loan deal, and after impressing in one of the games he played for them during their camping in Turkey, he was handed a 10 minutes run out in their first clash following the resumption of the league in Bosnia.

The Super Eagles defender moved to Bosnia during the January transfer window, due to lack of game time at Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir, where he has failed to play in the league eighteen months after his transfer.

Since turning professional, the former Besiktas of Turkey target has not played in a league game until today, and he will be hoping to make his first ever start in a league game in their next tie.

His future with the Nigeria senior national team is linked to the number of games he plays in Bosnia, as coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr has long voiced the need for him to play games at club level.