Gent scoring sensation Orban forced to pull out of Nigeria's U23 AFCONQ v Guinea 

KAA Gent's free-scoring striker Gift Orban will not make his debut for Nigeria's youth teams on Wednesday when the Olympic Eagles trade tackles with Guinea in a 2023 Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifier, allnigeriasoccer.com can report.

Head coach of the Nigeria U23s, Salisu Yusuf, pulled off a massive public relations masterstroke by including Orban among the sixteen foreign-based professionals called up for the two-legged encounter. 

Although the 2023 AFCONQ falls within the FIFA window for international matches, Gent have insisted that Orban will not be released to the Nigeria Football Federation because the invitation letter was sent late. 

The 20-year-old was looking forward to linking up with the Nigeria U23s in Abuja before he was stopped in his tracks by the Belgian Pro League side. 

Orban's absence is a big blow to Salisu Yusuf as the Bison FC product is statistically the hottest Nigerian striker on the books of a top ten European League club since the start of this month. 

Nine goals, none from penalties, have been scored by the KAA Gent attacker in five games in March, at a rate of 1.8 goals per game. 

Orban scored the fastest hat-trick in the history of all European competitions in the Conference League match against Istanbul Basaksehir in just three minutes and 25 seconds on March 15.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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