By John Essien
Nigeria and Leicester City have suffered a huge blow after Brendan Rodgers confirmed defensive midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi has been ruled out for up to four or five weeks.
The 24-year-old Super Eagle missed the Foxes’ 2-2 Premier League draw against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park Stadium on Sunday because of a hamstring injury he suffered a week before in the 2-2 draw with Burnley.
“He did it in the [Burnley] game, which was unfortunate. It could be four to five weeks, so we’ll see how that goes,” Rodgers told BBC Radio Leicester as quoted by Leicestershire Live.
Ahead of the game against Legia Warsaw, Rodgers highlighted the importance of Ndidi and he admitted it was “impossible” for them to find another player to do the job of the former Genk star.
“It’s impossible to find what we have in Wilf,” Rodgers said. “We have good players, but specifically the job he does in breaking up the play and defending in the box, he’s irreplaceable, but we have lots of good players.
“You have to find a way. Earlier on in the season, we brought [Boubakary] Soumare into the squad because he gives us that physicality. Wilf’s a fabulous player and hopefully, he’ll be okay for the weekend.”
Super Eagles camp opened on Monday, October 4to begin preparations for the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying doubleheader against the Central African Republic (CAR).
Nigeria will host CAR in Lagos on Thursday and then travel to Douala, Cameroun for the reverse fixture, which holds on October 10.
Apart from Ndidi, Watford’s Oghenekaro Etebo will also endure a lengthy spell on the sideline that will see him miss the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next year, the Hornets confirmed on their website on Sunday.
