Big boost for Nigeria: Chelsea's Ugochukwu, Crystal Palace's Olise omitted from France Euro 2024 squad

The Nigeria Football Federation have been handed a massive boost in their pursuit of Cobham product Michael Olise and Chelsea midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu following their omission from France's 2024 European Championship squad, allnigeriasoccer.com reports

France manager Didier Deschamps announced his squad for the tournament in Germany on Thursday, with the Crystal Palace winger and Ugochukwu not part of the 25-man group.

The 1998 world champion is taking seven midfielders to Germany, namely Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Youssouf Fofana (Monaco), N'Golo Kante (Al-Ittihad), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG), Aurelien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) and  Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid).

The forwards heading to Germany who are ahead of Olise in Deschamps's pecking order are: Ousmane Dembele (PSG), Olivier Giroud (AC Milan), Randal Kolo Muani (PSG), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Marcus Thuram (Inter), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich) and Bradley Barcola (PSG).

Olise was included in Nigeria's provisional squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho in 2021, but chose to stick with France, to whom he became provisionally cap-tied in March 2022.

 Ugochukwu has been provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth, France since November 2022.

If the two France U21 internationals had been selected for this summer's European Championship, they would become ineligible for a Super Eagles call-up. 

This is due to Fifa's rule that states any appearance in the final tournament of a confederation competition or the World Cup, regardless of the player's age, permanently cap-ties them.

Olise and Ugochukwu are seriously in contention to be named in France squad for the 2024 Olympic Games. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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