Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick has hinted that former Nigeria international, Odion Ighalo may feature for the Super Eagles in future but stressed that the Manchester United striker won’t be put under pressure to rescind his decision.
Ighalo, who registered 15 international goals in total before quitting the Super Eagles shortly after winning the top scorer award at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, revealed that the reasons for his action is to give young players in the team chance to play.
In a chat with Nigerian television station Plus TV Africa, Pinnick stated “Ighalo loves Nigeria, he loves Nigeria so much that I know.
“He grew up in Ajegunle, you know the mentality about Ajegunle and Nigeria, he loves the country so much, so I believe if there is need for him to play for Nigeria, he will come.
“I am in touch with him, we speak every other week. He is quite respectful, quite disciplined and quite prayerful.
“The most important thing is that he loves the country so it’s an advantage for us but he also wants to give the younger players the opportunity to play like Victor Osimhen, look at Iheanacho coming back strong, then Dessers.”
The football administrator continued : “If there is need for him to come I believe he would definitely come but we don’t want to put him under pressure, we want him to concentrate.
“Manchester United is not a bed of roses, he needs total concentration to be in that club so we want to give him that.”
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