Samson Siasia has said he never discussed including Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel, into Nigeria’s 2016 Olympic football squad with anyone.
The local media was awash with stories that Mikel could be a shock inclusion to the squad with the players reportedly informing an unnamed “source” about his intention to play at the Olympics for Nigeria.
The local media was awash with stories that Mikel could be a shock inclusion to the squad with the players reportedly informing an unnamed “source” about his intention to play at the Olympics for Nigeria.
Siasia has now moved to deny the rumours insisting that no one knows the identities of the players who will make the list.
“Coach Siasia has not mentioned the name of any player who will be included in the Olympic team so I want to advise the Nigerian media to be patient.
“When the list of players to be invited is released, it will be made available to the media. This issue of trying to be smart or trying to get exclusive (stories) is not going to help the team.
“They will only heat up the polity because if eventually, Siasia does not invite Mikel, there will be talk of the coach having a grudge against the Chelsea player. The coach has neither invited anyone, nor discussed who he plans to invite to the team,” Nigeria’s Under-23 team spokesman, Timi Ebikagboro told supersport.com.
Mikel was excluded from the 2008 Nigeria Olympic team by Siasia after the Chelsea man failed to take part in the qualifiers for the tournament.
The Nation
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