Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo has expressed his displeasure over the situation that surrounded his inability to play for Nigeria in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Ighalo was invited to the tournament in Cameroon and his club refused to release the 32-year old.
Ighalo retired from the National team in 2019 after winning the highest goalscorer in the AFCON that year but was recalled by then-coach Gernot Rohr I’m 2021.
Ighalo made the 28-man list for the AFCON in Cameroon but was unable to compete in that tournament as he was denied the exit Visa from Saudi Arabia.
“I was not happy with them and we decided to part ways because the Nations Cup that I didn’t go to caused a lot of bad blood,” Ighalo said.
“Four hours until my flight [to Cameroon], they had not sent me the exit visa. I called the team manager, and he told me they did not get an invitation. But I had a copy of the invitation that was sent because they copied me in the email.
“We had all this back and forth going on, I changed the ticket to the next day, and then the third day, and they still did not send me the visa. At that point, I knew they did not want me to go.
“My anger was that they should have told me straight up, not smiling in my face one day and then acting a different way. That is why I decided to leave.” Ighalo told ESPN.
The forward left the club to Al Hilal and is on course to be picked for the World Cup double-header qualifiers against the Black Stars of Ghana later next month.
