Saudi Arabia outfit Al Shabab says Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo won’t be permitted to join up with the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their campaign at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The club have already informed Ighalo of their decision to hold on to him during the AFCON period using the late arrival of his invitation letter from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as their excuse.
They claimed they didn’t receive his invitation letter within the days stipulated by FIFA for clubs to be notified about their players going away for a tournament with their national team.
Their excuse is similar to the one given by English Premier League side Watford on another Nigerian player in Emmanuel Dennis before the player decided not to honour the call up. Like Dennis, it’s now up to Ighalo to decide if he wants to be at the tournament or not.
We gathered the club who are pushing for the league title as they second on the log are open to the idea of Ighalo leaving if he insist despite the fact that he is their leading top scorer with ten goals in 14 games this season.