Eguavoen speaks on whether Osimhen will be given minutes; headache picking between Nwabali and Okoye

Super Eagles interim boss Austin Eguavoen has spoken about the fitness of Victor Osimhen and who will start in goal between Stanley Nwabali and Maduka Okoye ahead of tomorrow's 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin.

Osimhen was the last player to report to the camp as he had to sort out his future, following his failure to secure a move to Chelsea or Al Ahli, the two teams keenly interested in him before the transfer window in the top five leagues in Europe.

Having been frozen out of the Napoli first team, the 25-year-old got a loan offer from Galatasaray and was only able to complete his move to the Turkish side on Thursday, after which he arrived for training.

He didn't participate during the pre-season with Napoli and has not featured in any competitive game since his cameo against Lecce on the last matchday of the Serie A last term.

Speaking on whether he will feature against the Cheetahs, Eguavoen didn't give too much away on how much involvement the 25-year-old will have in the game.

"To answer that, you know we have a pool of 23 players. So it is something I have to sleep over and then decide who starts tomorrow," Eguavoen said at the pre-match press conference. 

The interim boss was also quizzed about whether he is bothered about who will start in goal between Okoye and Nwabali in tomorrow's clash 

"The headache in the entire team. 23 quality players, some quality players that are also not in the team right now. 

"So, it is headache for the coach but the good thing is that they are all fit and we can always play with 11, the required number of players and the good thing is that the players also know that."

Nwabali has been the preferred first choice since the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations but it remains to be seen whether Eguavoen will keep him in goal ahead of Okoye who has been in magnificent form for Udinese.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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