Iheanacho misses last chance to prove his fitness to Eric Chelle, ruled out of Nigeria v Gabon

Celtic striker Kelechi Iheanacho is set to miss out on a place in Nigeria's squad for the crucial 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying playoff against Gabon's Panthers in Morocco, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle has delayed the release of his squad list due to the ongoing midweek European fixtures, but Iheanacho is not among those expected to make the cut.

Nigeria are grappling with an injury crisis ahead of November's international window, with Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Cyriel Dessers, Felix Agu, Ola Aina, Igoh Ogbu and Nathan Tella not in contention to feature against Gabon.

Iheanacho, who made a bright start to life at Celtic following his move from Sevilla, was surprisingly left out of the squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and the Republic of Benin. 

His anticipated return to the Super Eagles is off the cards as he continues to struggle with fitness issues.

The Manchester City academy graduate missed Celtic's trip to Denmark for their Europa League clash with FC Midtjylland, with manager Martin O’Neill confirming in his pre-match press conference that the Nigerian forward was still not fit due to a hamstring issue. 

The 2013 Fifa U17 World Cup Golden Ball winner last featured for the Super Eagles in May, coming off the bench in the Unity Cup showpiece against Jamaica.

There is some positive news for the Super Eagles before Chelle's squad announcement this week.

Samuel Chukwueze has fully recovered from injury and impressed off the bench in Fulham's 3–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Chidozie Awaziem passed a late fitness test to feature for Nantes in their Ligue 1 encounter against Metz.
 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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