Istanbul Başakşehir of Turkey midfielder, Azubuike Okechukwu will miss his club’s next two matches against Galatasaray and Antalyaspor because he has been ruled out with injury and is bound to spend the next two weeks recuperating from a knock he copped in training, megasportsarena.com reports.
The 23-year old two-time Olympic Eagles’ captain and Rio 2016 Games bronze medalist, suffered a muscular injury towards the end of his team’s training session on Wednesday, as they put in the last lap of preparations for their trip to Ankara, and he was eventually excluded from the squad that played the midweek fixture away to Ankaragucu on Friday.
The former Bayelsa United of Yenagoa battler, who is on loan at Başakşehir from Pyramids FC of Egypt, was a second half substitute in his club’s first Turkish Super Lig match back after the re-start of the season, and played the tie unscathed against Alanyaspor, but he is now set to be sidelined for two weeks after suffering the injury in training.
The diagnosis and extent of absence for Okechukwu were revealed from results of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan he had on Saturday, which showed he suffered a Grade 1 tear that will require a fortnight to heal properly, much to the dismay of his coach, Okan Buruk.
The gaffer had been hoping to have all his key players fit and available for the final lap of the title race with Anthony Nwakaeme’s Trabzonspor, but is sad to learn that Okechukwu will now miss this weekend’s Istanbul derby against Henry Onyekuru’s Galatasaray.
After battling Gala this weekend, Başakşehir, who are currently on 59 points and are running head-to-head with Trabzonspor at the top of the Super Lig table, will await Antalyaspor’s visit to Fatih Terim Stadium next week, but they will not have Okechukwu for both crucial games.
This comes at a point additional information out of Turkey revealed that Başakşehir are already in an advanced stage to sign Okechukwu on a permanent deal from Pyramid FC, as the Istanbul-based in-form squad aim to keep him beyond the duration of his ongoing loan terms.
A report by AOIFootball.com adds: “The Olympic Eagles captain joined the Super Lig side on a season-long loan from the Egyptian club last summer but, with his contract now set to expire next week, the club has taken the option to sign the Nigerian following his impressive debut season.
“The 23-year-old midfielder has been a core part of the club’s league push this campaign, haven featured in 17 of their matches so far, as they close in on what could be a historic league triumph, after narrowly losing the title to Galatasaray last campaign.”
