Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has been ruled out of the Super Eagles’ friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia on October 9th and 13th respectively, in Austria following COVID-19 restrictions put in place by his Italian club.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced this on Sunday via its official Twitter handle.

In replacement of the 21-year-old Osimhen, NFF said Paul Onuachu has been invited.

@victorosimhen9 has been excused from @NGSuperEagles’ games against Algeria and Tunisia. His replacement is Paul Onuachu. #Team9jaStrong #SoarSuperEagles,

it tweeted.

🔊 ❗️❗️@victorosimhen9 has been excused from @NGSuperEagles’ games against Algeria and Tunisia. His replacement is Paul Onuachu. #Team9jaStrong #SoarSuperEagles pic.twitter.com/UGJnS6jLub

— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) October 4, 2020

Flavision reports that Osimhen’s club, Napoli announced on Saturday that COVID-19 tests were carried out on all their players, with only Macedonian midfielder Elif Elmas testing positive.

However, ASL local health authority decided it was unsafe for the Napoli squad to travel and has banned the team from travelling outside the region to Turin for their Serie A clash at the Allianz Stadium today(Sunday).

Napoli later announced that their players and staff were in isolation and would not travel for their international fixtures.

Meanwhile, team officials and backroom staff of the Eagles have departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Saturday night for Austria, ahead of the games against their North African opponents.

We are on board and about to take off for the flight to Austria, where the players would join us,

Ibitoye said, in a conversation with The Punch.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.