The Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead as planned and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen says he will be available unless Nigeria drop him.
The Confederation of African Football was reportedly considering cancelling this year’s edition due to the rapid spread of the COVID Omicron variant.
However, the Cameroon Football Federation has now confirmed that the tournament will take place as planned.
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen revealed that he would be available for the Africa Cup of Nations only a few hours before the announcement from the Cameroon federation.
“I will be available for AFCON unless if am not among the players picked to represent NIGERIA,” Osimhen wrote on Twitter.
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) December 21, 2021
The Nigeria international is training with a protective mask after suffering cheekbone injury at the end of November after a clash of heads with Inter defender Milan Skriniar.
Napoli said their star striker would remain out of action for approximately three months.
However, Osimhen is now ready to play and will return to the pitch in January with his national team.
Victor 💪
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/E8kqewEoLN
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) December 21, 2021
I will be available for AFCON💯unless if am not among the players picked to represent NIGERIA.
— Victor Osimhen (@victorosimhen9) December 21, 2021
AFCON is a beautiful tournament and it is great that it is going ahead. The joy and passion the fans have for football in Africa makes stadiums one of the best atmospheres in the world. Also, some of these African players in Europe have had very difficult upbringings and have had to fight their way to the top and I love the fact that they try to give back to their countrymen/women as much as possible. I understand that there is some uncertainty due to the new COVID variant, but if Euro 2020(1) was played behind closed doors, then so can AFCON.
I will for sure be watching it from here in Europe and wish all teams well and to stay safe
!
The pressure was never from African teams or players but rather teams around the world trying to use Covid politically so as to rest their key players. It’s not the end however as now teams will try to hold on their players preventing them to join. Now Liverpool when facing Inter will have two of their key players not in full fitness not because of Covid because of the nature of international football.But again it’s not final yet but with an official statement it makes it clear that it’s up to the players to decide.