Isaac Okoronkwo, who you can now regard as a former Nigeria international, has been ruled out of action for three weeks after picking up an injury in Rostov's pre - season build up.

Thus, the central defender now misses three matches in the Russian Premier League against Krylya Sovetov, Krasnodar and Alaniya.

Assuming there are no major setbacks, Okoronkwo will return to action on August 31 when Rostov travel to Volga for match day 7 in the championship.

Now undergoing rehabilitation, Okoronkwo answered questions from the official website of Rostov on his recovery process.

He told the official website : ''It is now better. Until the end of this week I plan half training in the gym. It is likely that from next Monday I start to run slowly, but after a couple of weeks, I hope, will join the group. To tell the truth, already miss football. Now the main thing - to quickly recover. By its very nature I am a football player who used to always be alert and at any time to help the team. ''

Isaac Okoronkwo played his last match in Russia's top flight more than three months ago against Volga.

Photo Credit: Soccerway