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GROIN INJURY RULES OUT NDIDI FROM SUPER EAGLES MATCHES IN LATEST ATTIRE

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Midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi who was one of the poster icons used by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to unveil via twitters, the new Super Eagles’ apparels, will not be among the players to wear the new shorts when the team plays two friendly matches next month.

According to Goal, quoting  the media officer of the Super Eagles, Toyin Ibitoye,  the Leicester City midfielder has been ruled out of Nigeria’s friendlies against Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisia after suffering a groin injury in the Foxes’ 4-2 victory over Burnley.

Ndidi was among the 25-man squad to prepare Nigeria for their 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone in November.

The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes on Sunday evening as Brendan Rodgers’ men silenced the Clarets at the King Power Stadium, but he will not be part of the international game billed to take place in Austria.

 “Of course, Ndidi is injured and has been ruled out of the games against Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire,” Ibitoye told Goal.

Meanwhile, coach Gernot Rohr is expected to name a replacement for the injured midfielder.

Since the beginning of the 2020-21 campaign, the ex-Genk man has featured in a defensive role for Rodgers’ men with Caglar Soyuncu. This was following the unavailability of Wes Morgan, Jonny Evans and Filip Benkovic.

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The Northern Irish tactician had stated the centre-back role will not be permanent as Ndidi would return to his natural position when the defenders overcome their injury and suspension worries.

“Wilf is a player that I have real confidence in,” Rodgers told the media.

“He played the position [centre-back] very well and he has the attributes to play there. We don’t want him there for a long period of time.”

This is the first time Ndidi has suffered from a groin injury and the news will be particularly worrying for Leicester, with the youngster starting the season on a solid note.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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