Ighalo may return for World Cup qualifiers –Rohr

Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has hinted he might not be inviting new players as the national prepares for the World Cup qualifiers which begin next month.

Rohr, who took charge of the Eagles in 2016, also mentioned that striker Odion Ighalo could return to the national team during the qualifiers.

A host of Nigerian players have been in fantastic form for their respective clubs, but the Franco-German, in an interview with Elegbete TV Sports, said there was no time to experiment as the Eagles look to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Crotone striker Simeone Nwankwo, Sadiq Umar of Almeria are some of the players deserving of invitation for national team call ups but the door might be closed following the revelation of the 66-year-old.

“You know that I invited Simy already for the last World Cup and he was with us in Russia and he came in sometimes,” Rohr said.

“Now we have so many strikers, unfortunately, we cannot play with five centre forwards. When you see the centre forwards we have already, the competition is so big that it’s not easy for anybody to come to our team.

“We have Onuachu, we have Osimhen, we have Kelechi who scored and going to the final of the FA Cup, we have also perhaps the comeback of Ighalo, it could be interesting also, we have Sadiq Umar who I invited, I wanted to see him for the first time last time but his club did not release him.

“Sadiq deserves also a chance – one of the best centre forwards in Spain actually.

“Simy I know him very well, and so I didn’t have to invite him again to know how he is.

“The last matches were the last opportunity also for me to see some new players because now we go to the World Cup and now will be too late to make experimentation.

“I know already Simy very well; he is a very good player.”