Why Injured Everton Loanee Onyekuru Is Destined To Miss Out On Russia 2018

Super Eagles prolific starlet, Henry Onyekuru has so far, offered everybody a glimpse of his electric qualities with Anderlecht this campaign but saddening enough, it is hardly a given at any stretch now to posit that the youngster would bounce back after his injury setback to gatecrash Nigeria's World Cup plans.

The Everton loanee had taken to his new surroundings at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium, like a duck would to the waters and had wasted little time in getting himself into effective cognizance, dispatching 10 goals for the Purple and Whites, a stat which marks him out as the club's top scorer this season, with every caveat seemingly going well for him on that particular front.

But then, when the 20-year old went down clutching his knee in Anderlecht's 1-0 win over Eupen (the club where he made his name) last weekend, it inevitably seemed less serendipitous the outcome was likely to scupper his ambitions of turning out in green and white in Russia, albeit in less than six months time.

The subsequent medical checks he received had shown he had ruptured his knee ligaments, an impairment that would require a surgical operation to fix and there in lies the nub of the situation; he is, perharps destined to miss out of Russia next year.

The Onitsha-born youngster had been faithful enough to postulate he would be back and firing by the turn of the new year but the courage of the precocious attacker is at best, a banal one as Gernot Rohr would be more likely to keep faith with the best legs, and of course, ones who are fully fit and performing.

On the other hand, even if Onyekuru had done more than enough at club level to warrant usurping the very established attackers at the gaffer's disposal, his sparse involvement during national assignments even when fit had been telling — he's made only a handful of cameo appearances and is yet to start any game for the Super Eagles, a misdemeanor which had done little to show approval on his side.

At present, even the likes of Ahmed Musa and Anthony Nwakaeme are ahead of him in the pecking order, talk less of those who are well enmeshed within the fabric of the team.

And now his latest injury woe has hardly helped his cause, making the upcoming World Cup remotely far-fetched for him.

Henry Onyekuru might be undoubtedly talented, but it is increasingly unlikely he would be able to stake a claim in the Super Eagles squad come the crack of next year, especially if his recuperation period does not pan out nicely and in time.

Emmanuel Chinaza

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