'Ighalo Loves Nigeria So Much' - NFF Boss Pinnick Refuses To Rule Out Man Utd Star Playing For Eagles Again

Published: May 05, 2020

Nigeria Football Federation supremo Amaju Pinnick has refused to rule Ighalo out from playing for the Super Eagles in future but stressed that the Manchester United striker won't be put under pressure to rescind his decision.

The Shanghai Shenhua loanee called time on his international career when the ovation was loudest, shortly after winning the top scorer award at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

One of the official reasons Ighalo decided to quit the national team was to give younger players a chance and this has been echoed by Pinnick, who is still in contact with the former Super Eagles number 9.

In an interview with Nigerian television station Plus TV Africa monitored by allnigeriasoccer.com, Pinnick stated "Ighalo loves Nigeria, he loves Nigeria so much that I know.

"He grew up in Ajegunle, you know the mentality about Ajegunle and Nigeria, he loves the country so much, so I believe if there is need for him to play for Nigeria, he will come.

"I am in touch with him, we speak every other week. He is quite respectful, quite disciplined and quite prayerful.

"The most important thing is that he loves the country so it's an advantage for us but he also wants to give the younger players the opportunity to play like Osimhen, look at Iheanacho coming back strong, then Dessers."

The football administrator continued : "If there is need for him to come I believe he would definitely come but we don't want to put him under pressure, we want him to concentrate.

"Manchester United is not a bed of roses, he needs total concentration to be in that club so we want to give him that."

A former Nigeria U20 skipper, Ighalo registered 15 international goals in total before quitting the Super Eagles in July 2019.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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