Nigerian midfielder Nosa Igiebor has revealed that he is not ready to don the Green and White jerseys of Nigeria as long as Gernot Rohr remains the head coach.
Igiebor who has made only 15 appearances so far for the senior national team, explained that he was accused by the German of only honoring national calls because of the matches bonuses.
Life under Rohr for Igiebor started with good promises as he was involved in the first two games of the Franco-German tactician and scoring once in the process.
However, things started fallen apart when the former Real Betis man was overlooked in Super Eagles’ first competitive game under Rohr.
After impressing in the two previous friendly games, Igiebor was dropped to the bench in Nigeria’s 2018 world cup qualifying match against Zambia in Ndola.
The 29-year-old former Real Betis of Spain midfielder explained in an interview with Brila FM that he was sad to be overlooked after working hard in training, and demanded an explanation from the former Gabon boss, only to be told he was excluded because he was playing in Israel.
“In Europe, if your coach doesn’t play you, you have a right to ask why you’re not getting game time so that you’ll know where to improve in your game. The coach will even be happy. I did that when we got to Abuja. Wrapped my hands around the coach and asked him why I wasn’t playing.
“You know what he said to me? I should go and play in England because most players he played play in England. That he doesn’t like the level of the Israeli league insisting that I should move to a better league if I want to play. I was shocked because I have played in Betis and even in the Champions League in the past.” he told brila fm.
Igiebor later added that his relationship with Rohr further go beyond repair after he finds out he was listed among players who are interested in honoring invitations, because of a match , a statement he said was credited to Rohr.
“The following week they took a picture from a newspaper in Nigeria and sent to me, you know what Rohr said about me is that I will not call these players again because they are only coming here for the bonus. First on the list is Nosa Igiebor, my name was number one. So I was interviewed on this same station and I said I don’t want to play for the national team again if that is what this man thinks about me”, he concluded.
Igiebor who is currently without a club is recuperating from the injury he sustained and has been out for the past few months.
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