As Nigeria get set to name it’s final list of players for the U20 World Cup, highly rated Arsenal youth team winger Joel Ideho won’t be representing Nigeria at the tournament, OGN can exclusively reveal.
Ideho was at the camp of the team for the African U20 Cup of Nations and he made a huge impression on the technical crew of the team led by Ladan Bosso, but was not able to make the team for the tournament largely due to administrative issues.
As at that time, the 19 year old who was born in the Netherlands wasn’t in possession of a Nigerian passport and efforts to get him one proved abortive due to shortage of booklets at the Nigeria immigration offices.
Bosso penciled him down for the World Cup and sent him an invitation to be a part of the team’s camp in Abuja but as at yesterday, the coach said the winger who was signed by Arsenal from Dutch giants Ajax hasn’t responded to the letter of invitation.
” I have no word from him or Arsenal. So I guess he isn’t coming with us to the World Cup. The invitation letter was sent and a follow up but Arsenal didn’t reply to any of the letters officially sent to them. We have to plan with what we have and wish him well”, Bosso told OGN in an exclusive interview.
Damian Waziri