By Safiu Kehinde
Following the absence of Victor Oshimen, the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been dealt another blow over the withdrawal of Watford striker, Emmanuel Dennis.
The Nigerian Football Federation had, on Friday, announced that Dennis has been ‘excused’ from the squad. This, they claimed, was as a result of Watford’s unwilling attitude towards the release of the player. The board described Watford as a ‘barring fang’ which forced the release of the player.
Also commenting on issue, interim Super Eagles boss, Augustine Eguavoen claimed that the withdrawal of Emmanuel Dennis came as a result of Watford’s threat on the player.
“We tried to reach out to the club but the club was like: “No, we will not allow Dennis to go”.
“Dennis also told me that his club had done everything humanly possible for him not be at the AFCON. I can’t force it, I reported the matter to the authority and they also tried. That was why we had to wait until the last second before we pushed the button. Dennis said he wants to come but the club are threatening him, let me use the word, threatening him,” Eguavoen revealed.
The Super Eagles manager further admitted that the team will play with the available players.
“What do we do if a player does not want to come? What are you going to do? We have to play with what we have,” he said.
Reacting to the NFF’s allegation, Watford’s manager Claudio Ranieri denied the claim that the club has disrespected the tournament following the ‘excuse’ of Emmanuel Dennis from the national team.
Ranieri revealed that it was Nigeria who missed the deadline given by the club to express their intention of selecting Dennis for the tournament and the club took the advantage of the administrative error to reject his call-up.
“No [we have not disrespected AFCON]. We respect everybody. They have a lot of players and they changed the manager then changed everything. We were ready to give them players. They didn’t do this and the two boards spoke and for me it’s ok. I am only the manager, the coach and I accept everything,” Ranieri had stated last Friday.
The Hornets boss, however, disclosed that the Super Eagles have a lot of players which also include Watford’s defender, William Troost-Ekong.
“They [Nigeria] have a lot of players and they change the manager, then we change everything and then we were ready – we knew. We were ready to give the players – they didn’t do this. Then the two boards spoke and then for me it’s OK,” he said.
The absence of Emmanuel Dennis added to the woes of the Super Eagles who will also miss the likes of Abdullahi Shehu and Leon Balogun due to injury.
