The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has granted Samuel Chukwueze’s permission to report late to the Super Eagles camp ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The NFF took the decision after AC Milan’s request to have the winger available for their Coppa Italia clash with Cagliari on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles will open camp in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates same day.
Chukwueze, according to Italian reporter, Gianluca Di Marzio will now report for international duty on Wednesday, January 3.
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Di Marzio also reported that the Algerian Football Federation turned down AC Milan’s request to also hold on to midfielder Ismael Bennacer for the game.
Chukwueze will be featuring at the AFCON for the third time. He was part of Super Eagles squad at AFCON 2019 and AFCON 2021.
Meanwhile, doubts have been cast over Kelechi Iheanacho’s participation at the Africa Cup of Nations after the Leicester City striker suffered a muscle injury.
Iheanacho was missing from City’s squad for the 2-0 win over Cardiff, and Enzo Maresca revealed after the game he had picked up an injury in the aftermath of the draw with Ipswich on Boxing Day. That news comes on the day that Iheanacho was named in Nigeria’s 27-man squad for Afcon that kicks off in two weeks’ time.
City are expected to miss five players for January and potentially for the first half of February. Wilfred Ndidi is also in the Nigeria squad, while Patson Daka is expected to be in the Zambia line-up. Abdul Fatawu is in the preliminary Ghana squad and could make the cut for the tournament, while Harry Souttar will be representing Australia at the Asian Cup, which also takes place next month.
