Ndidi joins Eagles’ injury list, out of Foxes clash

Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi will miss Nigeria’s international friendly with Algeria on September 27 after picking an injury in training on Wednesday.
Ndidi arrived at the Super Eagles training in Constantine earlier this week alongside his international teammates ahead of the meeting with the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winner but copped a knock during training and will no longer participate in the encounter, returning to England to evaluate the injury.

This is yet another setback for the hard-tackling midfielder who in his first three full seasons at Leicester, played an average of 34 league games but has featured in an average of 22 league matches in the last two seasons, excluding this season no thanks to incessant injuries.
The 25-year-old missed the final 12 league games of 2021-22 for the Foxes after sustaining knee ligament damage against Rennes in the Europa Conference League in March.

READ ALSO:

• IG bans Amotekun, Ebubeagu, others from 2023 election operations
• Wike to expose characters in PDP disguising as leaders
• JUST IN: Wike summons Rivers PDP stakeholders meeting

He subsequently played no part in the Super Eagles AFCON qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe and Sierra Leone in June.

Nevertheless, Ndidi has featured in every Premier League game for the Foxes this season and was hoping for his first taste of action under new Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro.
Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka or uncapped Raphael Onyedika, who is having a brilliant start to life in Belgium with champions Club Brugge, are the names in the frame to replace Ndidi in the Super Eagles’ starting line-up against the Desert Foxes, especially as regular Joe Aribo was excused to concentrate on his Southampton team.
Wilfred’s is one of several unfortunate injuries that have ruled a few Nigerian footballers out of the friendly match against Algeria.
Injuries to Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Cardiff City’s Jamilu Collins, and Real Sociedad’s Umar Sadiq caused them to be omitted from head coach Jose Peseiro’s 25-man shortlist for the game.
Still, despite making the list, team captain Ahmed Musa, Nottingham Forest’s Emmanuel Dennis, Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze, and Adana Demirspor’s Henry Onyekuru have all been forced to withdraw due to injuries.

The Nation