KESHI- No Second Chance for Iheanacho

There will be no second chance for Nigerian Under-17 star, Kelechi Iheanacho in the Super Eagles build-up for the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) scheduled for South Africa.

According to the Eagles head coach,
Stephen Keshi, the youngster has missed
one week training with the team since he
opted to leave camp to sign for English club,Manchester City.

It is believed that the City deal may have
fallen through leaving the youngster and his
representatives considering other options.

But Keshi explained to supersport.com that
Iheanacho had a bright chance of making
the Super Eagles squad for the CHAN
which kicks off on January 11 after
impressing while in camp.

"Kelechi did really impress us and at the
time he was in camp with us he had started
getting used to our style of play, the players
and officials. In fact he had started
bonding well on and off the pitch with other
players.

Unfortunately when the call came that he
was going abroad to sign a deal for
Manchester City I couldn't have stopped
him since he had the backing of his family.

"Right now he's not part of our plans for the
CHAN because we've gone ahead with our
preparation and team-building without him.
And mind you he has lost one week of
training and that's a big gap to catch up
with," said Keshi said on Friday. Keshi is now ready to soldier on with the players
available in the build-up to the competition
next month.

"There are other players in camp who are
committed and we will have to work with
them and get the best out of them for the
tournament," said the Delta-born coach.

The Nigerian squad will continue their pre-
CHAN programme with a friendly against a Port Harcourt selected team this Saturday and round off with another game against the nation's top flight champions, Kano Pillars next week.