Withdrawing From Flying Eagles Squad To World Cup Could Be Chukwueze's Greatest Mistake

Published: May 20, 2019

Villarreal youngster Samuel Chukwueze surprisingly became a source of debate among Nigerians as Flying Eagles manager Paul Aigbogun and Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr were engaged in a tug-of-war for his service.

Aigbogun wanted him to strengthen the Flying Eagles attack considering the level of experience he's gained while playing for his Spanish side.

Despite having numerous in-form attacking players to choose from, Gernot Rohr was keen on having the youngster in his team for the forthcoming AFCON tournament.

The 19-year-old winger eventually chose to boycott the U20 World Cup in favor of the AFCON tournament in Egypt.

His decision was highly celebrated by Super Eagles fans, but that could turn out to be the greatest mistake of his career.

There is a massive competition for a place in Rohr's team, and considering Rohr's conservative nature, the speedster might fail to get a starting berth ahead of Ahmed Musa, Samuel Kalu and Henry Onyekuru.

This means he could be denied the chance to display his talents to few scouts who will be present in Egypt, which will definitely reduce his growth in the game.

In all fairness to Aigbogun's men, the Flying Eagles don't have a large pool of players who can deny Chukwueze of a spot in the starting lineup.

Barring an injury or drastic loss of form, the former U17 star would've been one of the most important players in Poland.

It also expected that many European scouts will storm Poland in search of new talents, hence, going to Poland would have given Chukwueze the best chance to showcase his obvious qualities to the rest of the world.

Ibukun Italoye