Chelle clears air on ‘clash’ with Osimhen as striker misses Super Eagles matches

Head coach of the Super Eagles, Eric Chelle, has explained why Victor Osimhen did not play during this international window.

Osimhen was unavailable for 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau.

The Galatasaray striker was also missing as Nigeria played out a 3-3 draw with Russia in a friendly on Tuesday.

Osimhen was initially included in Nigeria’s squad for the international window but failed to recover from injury in time.

“About 10-15 days before the international break, Victor got injured,” Chelle said, per the Championat.

“We agreed that if he recovered and played for Galatasaray before the international break, the club would let him join us. But he couldn’t play in that game because he hadn’t yet recovered.

“We included him on the initial list because at that point we didn’t know whether he would have time to recover. There is no conflict between the player, the club, or the national team.”