Onyekuru Lifts Lid On How Rohr Coaxed Anderlecht To Play Him Ahead Of World Cup

Nigeria international, Henry Onyekuru has revealed how Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr nearly influenced his selection for the Super Eagles just before the 2018 World Cup.

In December 2017 while with Anderlecht on a loan deal, Onyekuru suffered a serious knee injury in a Belgian First Division A tie against Eupen, an affliction which threatened his inclusion in Nigeria's Russia World Cup squad, and ultimately culminated in him eventually missing out of the tournament.

In an interview with The Athletic (subscription required) , the 22-year-old did not mince words in explaining that his then club gaffer Hein Vanhaezebrouck did not heed the words of his national team selectors leading up to the global football tournament.

"I had a check and one of the specialists there said I could just go through rehab and would be fine in a couple of months", Onyekuru said.

"I went back to Belgium to play but the coach of Nigeria [Rohr] had to call Anderlecht to ask them to allow me to play even 15 minutes so they could confirm I was OK to play.

"The coach [Vanhaezebrouck] was a crazy guy. When we lost it was our fault and when we won he said it was him. I was scoring goals but he'd say I'd been s*** and stuff like that."

"It was a big disappointment and was like a bomb had hit me. It's the biggest tournament in the world and everyone wants to be there."

Despite his injury-plagued spell with the Purple and Whites, the Monaco-owned player scored 10 goals in 28 matches for the club.

While he ended his stint with Anderlecht in June 2018, Vanhaezebrouck was sacked by the club in December 2018.

Emmanuel Chinaza