Nigeria reveal Victor Osimhen injury update as major squad change confirmed | OneFootball

Super Eagles begin Africa Cup of Nations qualifying with double-header

Nigeria have suffered a major injury blow after Victor Osimhen was ruled out of their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

The Super Eagles announced on Sunday that their talismanic striker would miss Friday’s home clash with Madagascar in Uyo in Group L and the trip to Guinea-Bissau four days later, plus the friendly against Russia in October.

Osimhen has been battling a muscle strain in his groin of late and has sat out the last three matches for his club side, Galatasaray.

The former Napoli frontman last appeared - and scored the opening goal - in the dramatic 3-2 win away at Istanbul Basaksehir in the Turkish Super Lig on September 4, missing the subsequent 3-1 Champions League defeat by Sporting and 1-0 victory over Kocaelispor.

Osimhen was also absent on Saturday as Okan Buruk’s defending champions and current Super Lig leaders were thrashed 4-0 by Trabzonspor in a game in which Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick and Lesley Ugochukwu was sent off.

There had been reports in Turkey earlier this week that Galatasaray made a request that Osimhen be rested throughout the extended three-week international break as he recovers from injury, which was said to have been refused by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The 27-year-old had started the season in superb form, scoring six goals in four appearances for Galatasaray in the Super Lig.

“Victor Osimhen will miss Nigeria’s AFCON 2027 qualifiers against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau as he continues to recover from a muscle strain,” Nigeria wrote on social media. “We wish Victor a speedy recovery.”

It was later confirmed that Osimhen had been replaced in the squad by Coventry striker Taiwo Awoniyi.

Osimhen is a pivotal figure for Nigeria - who failed to qualify for the World Cup earlier this summer - as their most important player and has 35 goals in 51 senior caps for his country so far.

Eric Chelle’s side will have to cope without him again as they begin qualifying for the next edition of AFCON, which takes place in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in the summer of 2027.

Nigeria have not played since June, when they were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Portugal and drew 2-2 with Poland in friendly matches after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn the result of their World Cup qualifying play-off defeat on penalties by DR Congo.

Osimhen did not play in either of those friendlies, but insisted that head coach Chelle’s reasoning that his absence was due to an uncertain club situation at Galatasaray had been “taken out of context and blown out of proportion” as he asked fans to “disregard the speculation surrounding this matter”.

Osimhen was also among the senior players rested as Nigeria successfully retained the Unity Cup in London in May with wins over Jamaica and Zimbabwe.

He also took no part in the friendlies against Jordan and Iran in Turkey in March and has not played for Nigeria since the last AFCON in January, when they lost to hosts Morocco on penalties in the semi-finals before beating Egypt on spot-kicks in the third-place game.