Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has handed maiden invitations to five players led by two highly rated winger, Chidera Ejuke and Frank Onyeka.
Both players were part of a list of 25 players revealed Monday evening by Rohr ahead of next the friendly matches against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, scheduled for Austria early October.
In what would be Nigeria’s first international games since last year after the coronavirus pandemic ensured football was suspended for six months, Ejuke, Frank Onyeka, Zaidu Sanusi, Matthew Yakubu and Captain of the most recent Nigeria U17 squad, Samson Tijani are the new faces invited by the Franco-German.
Returning to the Super Eagles are ex-U17 World Cup winning goalkeeper Dele Alampasu and defensive midfielder, Mikel Agu, while Belgain-born Cyriel Dessers will finally get his chance to represent Nigeria after been delayed by the Pandemic.
Meanwhile, the usual names led by captain Ahmed Musa, Rangers of Scotland new signing, Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong will also be in Austria with the Super Eagles.
German-born goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, now in the Eredivisie, Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Victor Osimhen, now in Italy with Napoli, and another former U17 World Cup winner Samuel Chukwueze are also invited.
Both games are to help prepare the Eagles for the next rounds of 2022 AFCON qualifiers, home and away against Sierra Leone in November.
The Super Eagles, who have five players placed on standby, will take on the CIV first before battling Tunisia four days later in Austria.
THE FULL LIST
Goalkeepers: Dele Alampasu (FK Ventspils, Latvia); Matthew Yakubu (SKF Sered, Slovakia); Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Defenders: Kenneth Omeruo (CD Leganes, Spain); Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Boavista, Portugal); William Ekong (Udinese FC, Italy); Olaoluwa Aina (Fulham FC, England); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal)
Midfielders: Mikel Agu (Vitoria Guimaraes, Portugal); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Frank Onyeka (FC Midtjylland, Denmark); Oghenekaro Etebo (Galatasary SK, Turkey); Samson Tijani (TSV Hartberg, Austria)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Al Nassr, Saudi Arabia); Alex Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Victor Osimhen (SSC Napoli, Italy); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Cyril Dessers (KRC Genk, Belgium); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Samuel Kalu (Girondins Bordeaux, France); Chidera Ejuke (CSKA Moscow, Russia)
Standby: Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor, Turkey); Ramon Azeez (Granada CF, Spain); Joshua Maja (Girondins Bordeaux, France); Henry Onyekuru (AS Monaco, France); Tyronne Ebuehi (FC Twente, Netherlands)
