Chukwueze: Rohr wants youngster in Eagles, NFF insists on U-20

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr is keen to include Villarreal youngster in his squad for the 2019 African Cup of Nations but his employers Nigeria Football Federation has thrown spanner into that plans as the NFF prefers the youngster to spear head the national U-20 team World Cup campaign.

Chukwueze is regarded as one of the brightest youngsters in Europe following his stellar showing for his La Liga side Villarreal which earned him his international debut while he also featured for the national U-23 side in the Olympics qualifiers.

Stories around his bigmoney move away from his Spanish side have gained grounds in the past few weeks but he’s now disturbed about reports that he would miss the 2019 Nations Cup.

Our correspondent learnt that Rohr was impressed with the performance of the former Godlen Eaglets star and wants him to be part of his squad to the Nations but he might not get his wishes.

Sources told our correspondent that some chieftains of the NFF had argued that there were players who can play in the same position as Chuwkueze and the youngster should be allowed to help the U-20 as they look forward to winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time.

“The NFF’s argument is that Rohr can go to the Nations Cup with four wingers. The thinking is that Ahmed Musa, Samuel Kalu, Moses Simon and Henry Onyekuru are wingers who could still get the job done while Chukwueze can do well by helping the U-20 team,” a very reliable source told our correspondent.

“Rohr is the one that gave him his chance at the senior team and he considers the player as key part of his squad but he is not finding it funny when the NFF told him he has to forget about the striker for the Nations Cup.

“Although when asked, Rohr said he would have to sit with the U-20 coach to discuss the matter but it is the NFF people that will make the final decision and they have said Chukwueze should go to the Flying Eagles.

“Besides, there are a lot of politics going on regarding the boy, things that we can’t even say, I pity for Chukwueze.”

Meanwhile, Chukwueze has been ranked as Africa’s most valuable U-20 player in Europe’s top five leagues by CIES Football Observatory. According to the study by the Swiss-based organization, the Nigeria international is worth €35 million, which makes him the 12th most expensive U-20 player on the planet based on transfer market valuations.

The 50 players on the list have been ranked according to their age, position, performance, contract duration, full international and other factors.

At €150.3m, Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho is the most valuable U20 player, followed by Arsenal’s Mattéo Guendouzi (€70m) and AS Roma’s Nicolò Zaniolo (€67m).