Super Eagles Media Officer Toyin Ibitoye has played down speculations over the availability of Joel Obi for the upcoming friendlies against Poland and Serbia, saying the Torino midfielder is not injured and it was only a tactical decision by manager Walter Mazzarri to omit him from the squad vs Roma.

Ibitoye says it's also news to him that ADO Den Haag defender Tyronne Ebuehi is an injury doubt for the two friendlies against the European teams as the Dutch club have not yet informed the Nigerian Federation that the player has pulled out of the squad after he picked up an injury in the Eredivisie clash against NAC Breda on Saturday.

''We will wait for official notification because normally when you invite a player and he is not able to come because of injury the doctor of the club will write to the NFF that the player is injured,'' Ibitoye told allnigeriasoccer.com.

''They will send the details of the injury to confirm that he can't make it. We will wait for official confirmation from Tyronne's club.

''For Joel, he is okay, we still got in touch with him yesterday. He was just rested for their last game. He is fine, he has sent in his travel itinerary so we are expecting him to come.

''For Tyronne we hope it's not something serious. We hope he will be able to come, we wait for official word from the club doctor to know whether he's in or not.''

Joel Obi has not featured for the national team for close to four years due to concerns about his fitness, while Ebuehi has always made the squad in the last one year, apart from the World Cup qualifier against Zambia last October.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel