Tremendous Eagles coach Eric Chelle is carefully monitoring the health of Bayer Leverkusen ahead Nathan Tella forward of Nigeria’s essential 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in opposition to Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
The priority comes after Leverkusen supervisor Xabi Alonso supplied an replace on Tella’s muscular damage forward of their Bundesliga match in opposition to Stuttgart on Sunday. Tella, who was included in Nigeria’s 23-man squad for the qualifiers, was an unused substitute in Leverkusen’s 2-0 UEFA Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday night time.
His absence from the beginning lineup raised questions, particularly contemplating his robust kind for Leverkusen in current months. Alonso defined that Tella, together with teammate Edmond Tapsoba, was not match sufficient to characteristic within the Champions League recreation, regardless of being named within the squad.
“He wasn’t able to play right this moment,” Alonso mentioned about Tapsoba. “The identical utilized to Nathan Tella. So much has occurred in a single week. It will have been good for each of them if they’d been capable of play, however they solely educated at 50 p.c.”
Alonso was additionally unsure about whether or not Tella can be accessible for Leverkusen’s Bundesliga match in opposition to Stuttgart, saying, “We’ll need to see what occurs on Sunday.”
If Tella is unable to recuperate in time for the match, it might be an enormous loss for Leverkusen, because the Nigerian ahead has been a key participant, contributing 4 targets and three assists in 32 matches throughout all competitions this season.
This damage replace can be a significant concern for Tremendous Eagles coach Eric Chelle, who shall be hoping to have Tella absolutely match for Nigeria’s must-win World Cup qualifying video games in opposition to Rwanda in Kigali and Zimbabwe in Uyo.