Nigeria have suffered a major injury blow ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations opener against Equatorial Guinea with key midfielder Wilfred Ndidi ruled out of the tournament in Ivory Coast.
Super Eagles will be at the 2023 AFCON without Ndidi and already Antwerp midfielder Alhassan Yusuf has been drafted as a late replacement.
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has confirmed that the Leicester City ace has pulled out of the Nigeria squad due to an injury he suffered while on club duties at Leicester City.
The defensive midfielder missed his team’s home win over Huddersfield Town on Monday on account of this injury.
One of the assistant captains of the Super Eagles, the holding midfielder was guaranteed a spot in Nigeria’s ideal starting lineup.
Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro and the team administrators have since contacted Alhassan Yusuf to report to the AFCON training camp in Dubai.
Alhassan has yet to be capped by the Super Eagles despite his fine run in Belgium with double champions Antwerp.
He was only named on a 40-man provisional squad for the AFCON before his late call-up.
All 24 AFCON teams will submit a final list to CAF but have till January 10 to make changes in the event of injury.
The former Racing Genk youngster, Alhassan has been involved in every single game played by the national team at the Africa Cup of Nations since the 2019 edition, starting ten games and coming off the bench in a dead rubber against Madagascar, which makes his absence more painful.
This is the second time the Portuguese football tactician has invited Yusuf to the national team as he handed a call-up to the 23-year-old for the international friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador in 2022. Still, the player could not attend the camp in the United States.
Yusuf has been extensively scouted by a trusted associate of Nigeria Football Federation’s Technical Director Augustine Eguavoen and has also been monitored by Peseiro.
A product of FC Hearts Abuja, Yusuf put himself in the shop window in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, where he scored against Porto and registered an assist in Antwerp’s thrilling win against Barcelona.