Chelsea Starlet Aina Included In Latest Nigeria Preliminary World Cup Squad, Four Dropped

Published: May 30, 2018

Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that Chelsea defender Ola Aina is close to fulfilling his dream of playing at the World Cup after he was included in Nigeria's traveling party to the United Kingdom.

It is confirmed that Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has axed four players from the roster : Kano Pillars striker Junior Lokosa, Standard Liege midfielder Uche Agbo, Lokomotiv Plovdiv defender Stephen Eze and Plateau United netminder Dele Ajiboye.

A fifth player Moses Simon will travel with the team to London later today in order to get a second opinion on his thigh injury, with tests carried out in Nigeria confirming that he will be on the sidelines for a minimum of three weeks.

Rohr will drop two more players after Saturday's friendly against England at Wembley, and the 23 players remaining will be his final squad for the World Cup.

Ola Aina is competing with Elderson Echiejile and Brian Idowu for two spots at left-back, and also vying for the right-back positions with Abdullahi Shehu and Tyronne Ebuehi.

The former England U19 skipper earned his fourth Nigeria cap in their 1-1 draw with Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, May 28.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel