Izuchukwu OkosiSuper Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen has revealed that Watford striker, Emmanuel Dennis spoke to him about the pressure from the relegation threatened team to turn down the opportunity of playing at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which starts next week Sunday (January 9).
Nigeria’s first match at the tournament comes up on January 11 against Egypt 4pm Nigerian time.
Dennis was named in Nigeria’s 28 man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations but was later omitted as Watford’s manager Claudio Ranieri claimed that the invitation letter for the former Club Brugge striker arrived after its deadline.
Curiously, Dennis’ club and international teammate William Troost Ekong was not barred from representing Nigeria at the tournament.
Watford are the only club in the whole of Europe that sensationally claimed that the Nigeria Football Federation sent out the letters of invitation late – something which was disputed by a top NFF official and makes no sense considering that four fresh invitation letters were sent out this week.
Eguavoen spoke to the Nigeria Football Federation TV.
“We tried to reach out to the club, the club said we will not allow Dennis to go, and Dennis also told me that his club is doing everything humanely possible for him not to be at the AFCON, I can’t force it.
“Dennis told me that his club had done everything humanly possible for him not to be at the AFCON,” Eguavoen told NFF TV.
“I can’t force it, I reported the matter to authority and they also tried, that was why we had to wait until the last second before we pushed the button.
The 24-year-old was replaced in the Super Eagles’ 28-man squad on Friday by Olympiacos’ Henry Onyekuru after his Premier League club declined his release to play at the AFCON.
“Dennis said he wanted to come, but the club are threatening him. What do we do if a player does not want to come, we have to play with what we have. Based on that, I like the enthusiasm because I only informed Onyekuru once and he was happy about it.
“Initially, he has been an integral part of this team and I felt bad that some of them wouldn’t be around but decisions have to be made.
“Onuachu, Onyekuru, Ebuehi, and few other ones and as soon as that opening was there, Shehu Abdullahi also said that the report came out that he’s been injured and he’s going to be out for ten days to two weeks and we reached out to Tyronne and he was happy too.”
Dennis started in Watford’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday but was substituted at half-time by his Italian manager, Ranieri.
Dennis has been directly involved in ten goals in his last eight Premier League games for the Hornets (six goals, four assists), having a hand in 66.7 percent of the goals Watford have scored in these games.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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