Nigeria might miss out on the services of Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi at the Orange Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa if the words of his manager, Alan Pardew are anything to go by.
The former England under-21 international who made his debut in a 3-1 friendly win over Venezuela last month in Miami, Florida, was named in coach Stephen Keshi’s provisional 32-man squad. But Pardew has ruled out the 31-year-old’s appearance at the tournament, which kicks off on 19 January.
He said: “Shola won’t be going. The national team manager knows the reasons, which I am keeping to myself.”
However the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, have quickly moved to debunk the assertion that Shola Ameobi will skip next month’s AFCON and that coach Stephen Keshi is aware of the development.
“We are not aware of such a thing about Shola (Ameobi), he is a FIFA-listed player for us. The federation is not aware, the head coach is not aware of this and that was why Shola was called up for the competition,” spokesman for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ademola Olajire, told MTNFootball.com
“We will do all within us to see that Shola or any player picked by the coach for the Nations Cup is released to us.”
your content, I really likeasdf456sd4f6s4ad6f5