Iwobi ruled out of Cameroon clash, Samuel called up

Nigeria have received a blow ahead of Friday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Cameroon with the news that Arsenal star Alex Iwobi will miss the crunchy tie.

Iwobi who has been capped eleven times by Nigeria will be replaced in the Super Eagles squad by Russia-based Aaron Samuel who will be earning his first call-up in close to three years.

The Nigeria Football Federation through a tweet on the official Twitter handle of the men’s national team @NGSuperEagles tweeted on Sunday morning that Samuel, who has two goals in five caps for the team will take the place of the injured Iwobi.

The nature of Iwobi’s injury could not be ascertained yet and the player has recently been linked with a shock loan move to Turkish side Galatasaray after having fallen down the pecking order at the Emirates.

Iwobi has made two substitute appearances for Arsenal this term but with club’s prized asset, Alexis Sanchez expected to return from injury in Sunday’s game at Liverpool, the former England Under-18 star is expected to have playing time harder to come by.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that Nigeria’s national team coach Gernot Rohr has called up Belgium-based midfielder Uche Agbo for Friday’s game in Uyo,

Both CSKA Moskva’s Samuel and Standard Liege’s Agbo were in the initial list of standby players released by the Football Federation last Tuesday.