Everton of England utility player, Alex Iwobi has left the Super Eagles’ camp in Lagos due to the positive coronavirus test report he got in Benin Republic, but the Nigerian national tam’s media officer, Babafemi Raji added that the former Arsenal playmaker was fine and showed no symptoms of COVID-19.
Although Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr had described the positive test result issued in Cotonou as ‘fake’ and officials of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) initially backed Iwobi, ahead of a possible second test on arrival back in Nigeria, the youngster opted to excuse himself from the national camp instead.
Megasportsaena.com further gathered that Iwobi, who is Nigeria’s second leading scorer in the 2022 AFCON qualifiers, with three goals in four appearances, took another round of COVID-19 tests with his Eagles’ teammates, following their return to Lagos.
However, while the 24-year-old star also got tested for antibodies, he did not attend an event held at Eko Hotel on Sunday night to celebrate NFF president, Amaju Pinnick’s election into the council of world soccer governing body, FIFA, as he was seen entering a vehicle and zoomed off to an unknown destination.
Consequently, Iwobi quit the Eagles’ camp in Lagos and will not be available for selection for the team’s final AFCON qualifier against bottom team Lesotho at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos on Tuesday.
That marked another chapter in the saga that saw Iwobi test negative for COVID-19 before leaving Lagos on Friday, only to return a positive result just before Saturday’s AFCON clash against the home team, which Nigeria won 1-0.
Nigeria top Group L with 11 points from five matches and have already qualified for the 2021 AFCON, which will be hosted by Cameroon in January, but Iwobi will not be part of their final qualifier on Tuesday, though he traveled back with the rest of the squad from Cotonou on Sunday.
Raji affirmed: “Iwobi has left the camp. Before he left, he did not show any symptoms, he was fine. The team will follow up on him.”
