Alex Iwobi, William Troost-Ekong, Peter Etebo, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho will be absent for Nigeria’s World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde.
Coach Gernot Rohr made this known before the Super Eagles’ match against Liberia, which will hold this Friday. The players will be present against Liberia but will fly back to England immediately after.
Rohr says that he will field another set of players against Cape Verde.
“There are only two new players in camp: Malmo FF’s Innocent Bonke and Bologna’s Kingsley Michael. These players did very well during training,” the German said.
“They are two defensive midfielders but have few chances to play tomorrow [on Friday] because we have all the UK based players around.
“Also, none of the UK based players will be with us for the second game. They have to leave after the match tomorrow against Liberia.
“They will not be in Cape Verde and which means there will be another team but for the moment, we will only focus on the first game.”
The Premier League had vowed not to release players for international engagements in ‘red list’ countries, where they would have to quarantine on their return to the United Kingdom because of Covid restrictions.
“Premier League clubs have today reluctantly but unanimously decided not to release players for international matches played in red-list countries next month,” a statement on the Premier League website read.
It as a result of that that the England-based players will have to immediately return.