Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen, has been ruled out of the Super Eagles team for the friendly games against Tunisia and Algeria.
“Victor Osimhen has been excused from SuperEagles’ games against Algeria and Tunisia,” the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) tweeted on its handle, Sunday morning as Napoli imposes further travel restrictions amid the second wave of COVID-19. “His replacement is Paul Onuachu. #Team9jaStrong #SoarSuperEagles.”
🔊 ❗️❗️@victorosimhen9 has been excused from @NGSuperEagles’ games against Algeria and Tunisia. His replacement is Paul Onuachu. #Team9jaStrong #SoarSuperEagles pic.twitter.com/UGJnS6jLub
— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) October 4, 2020
The three-time African champions are billed to take on Algeria and Tunisia on October 9 and 13 respectively but new travel restrictions by the club mean the former U-17 World Cup winner would not be available for the games.
On Saturday, Napoli said they had tested all their players for COVID-19 but only Macedonian midfielder, Elif Elmas, was confirmed to have contracted the virus.
The club also said their players and staff were in isolation and would not be travelling for the international break.
Local authorities had told the Napoli team it was unsafe to travel and has restricted them from going outside Turin region for their league tie at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.
Osimhen joined Napoli in July for an undisclosed fee believed to be over $96 million (81.3m Euros), making the forward one of the most expensive African player of all time.
“Welcome to Napoli, Victor, ” the club said on their Twitter handle while confirming the arrival of the Nigerian from French side, Lille.
Osimhen’s move to the Gli Azzurri trumps the prize Arsenal paid for Ivory Coast forward, Nicolas Pepe last year.
Last term, the former Charleroi (from where he moved to France) man scored 18 goals in all games for Lille and has been linked with a move to Naples in recent times.
His stellar showing for the French side saw him winning the Lille Player of the Season just as he made it to Ligue 1’s team for the 2019/2020 campaign.
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