Following Kelechi Iheanacho’s exclusion from the Super Eagles team list for the 2019 AFCON in Egypt, an ex- international, Friday Ekpo, has urged the player to redouble efforts to regain his playing ability.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Iheanacho and Semi Ajayi failed to make coach Gernot Rohr’s team for the Africa Cup of Nations competition scheduled to commence on June 21.
Iheanacho, a member of the 2013 Nigeria U-17 FIFA World Cup winning team, struggled for regular playing time in English Premier League in his club, Leicester City, during the 2018/2019 season.
Ekpo told NAN on Monday in Lagos that the player should move to a club where he would enjoy more player time to enhance his game and regain his confidence.
He said: “Iheanacho is a fantastic player who still has more years ahead of him in football; he should evaluate himself and what the problem is.
“He needs to exit his current club and seek an alternative where he will have more playing time to up his game as a player.
“Missing the Nations cup is not the end of the world; he is still young and could play in subsequent AFCON and even the World Cup if he puts his house in order.
“Nigerians should please support and encourage him at this period in time; enough of these negative words. What he needs most is our encouragement to get back better.”
NAN reports that Nigeria is in Group B alongside Madagascar, Guinea and Burundi.
Nigeria won her last Nations Cup in 2013 which was hosted by South Africa, making the country a three-time winner of the competition since its inception in 1957.
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