Eguavoen on why ex-Man Utd star was invited; claims Euro clubs are punishing some Super Eagles stars

Augustine Eguavoen has explained the rationale behind his decision to invite former Manchester United star Odion Ighalo to the Super Eagles squad for the upcoming World Cup playoff games against Ghana.

The invitation of Ighalo and return of Emmanuel Dennis and Victor Osimhen have seen the likes of Peter Olayinka, Taiwo Awoniyi and in-form Paul Onuachu drop down Eguavoen's pecking order of strikers, with the Slavia Prague, Union Berlin and Racing Genk strikers only making the reserve list.

Of the twenty-five players that made the main list, seventeen were part of the Super Eagles squad to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations including Ighalo who was prevented from joining the team in Cameroon.

Eguavoen made it clear he has no time to build a new team, hence majority of the players in the current squad featured under erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr.

"Odion Ighalo, experience you cannot buy. We went to Africa Cup of Nations. there was no time to groom any other player, we all can say whatever we want to say about Gernot Rohr but I still have some reservations," Eguavoen told reporters.

"I still give a whole lot of credit because the team we are playing with today he's the one that put this team together.

"Late Keshi RIP had a longer period to start to put his own team together but that time is not there right now but the time will come.

"To dismantle this team we will be running a big, big risk whether we like it or now."

The likes of William Troost-Ekong, Francis Uzoho, Ola Aina, Frank Onyeka and Kelechi Iheanacho have found game time hard to come by since returning to their European clubs after Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Eguavoen has suggested that some of these players are being punished because they chose country over club by opting to represent the Super Eagles at the AFCON.

"Most of them have not been playing for whatever reason because many of them their teams didn't want them to come to the Africa Cup of Nations so going back to their team now, I will say maybe punishment kind of, but there's no way we can start looking at another direction.

"The bulk of the team will still come from the team that went to Africa Cup of Nations. "

Ifeanyi Emmanuel