Rohr dumps China pros, opts for new stars

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr on Wednesday omitted China-based trio  Mikel Obi, Odion Ighalo and Brown Ideye from his call-ups for this month’s friendly games against Senegal and Burkina Faso.

The Super Eagles  face Gabon 2017  Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinalists  Senegal’s Teranga Lions   on March 23  before taking on Burkina Faso’s Etalons, who came third in the   Gabon tournament, four days  later. Both matches will be played in London.

Rohr  had promised to invite  the players, who joined the China exodus   for megabucks, but the German sensationally omitted them from his 25-man squad  for   the friendlies.

Mikel,  who is the captain of the national team, joined  Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda  for a reported £140,000-a-week deal  in January after being frozen out of Chelsea’s first team  by the Blues’ Italian manager Antonio Conte.

Ighalo joined the gold rush in China when he dumped Premier League strugglers Watford for Changchun Yatai for a reported £180,000 per week wage. And Ideye completed the Nigerian player exodus to the Far East after he ditched Greek champions  Olympiakos  to team up with Mikel at Tianjin TEDA on Tuesday.

However, reports claimed  that Mikel pleaded with Rohr to leave him out of the encounters to enable him to settle down  at his new home.

But Rohr   has kept faith with Wolves  goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, Ogenyi Onazi, Kenneth Omeruo,  Elderson Echiejile, as well as  Premier League  forwards Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Isaac Success  for the fixtures.

 Germany-based defender   Leon Balogun, Belgium-based defender  William Troost-Ekong, Leicester City  new boy  Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu  and   Moses Simon made the list.

 In-form Hannover 96 midfielder  Noah-Joel Bazee, 20,  who has hit the back  of the net once for his German Bundesliga side this term, topped the list of new young players invited by Rohr.

   Portugal-based defender  Chidozie Awaziem, 20,  ADO Den Haag’s rising star Tyronne Ebuehi, 21,  and Wolfsburg forward Victor Osimhen, 19,  are  other young players listed for the encounters.

 The squad

Goalkeepers: Ikeme (Wolves); Daniel Akpeyi (Chippa United); Ikechukwu Ezenwa ( IfeanyiUbah)

 Defenders: Balogun (Mainz 05); Troost-Ekong  (Gent); Kenneth Omeruo (Alanyaspor); Uche Agbo (Granada); Abdullahi Shehu (Anorthosis Famagusta, Cyprus); Musa Muhammed (Zeljeznicar, Bosnia);  Ebuehi (ADO Den Haag); Echiejile (Gijon); Kingsley Madu (Zulte Waregem); Chidozie Awaziem ( Porto)

 Midfielders: Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor);  Ndidi (Leicester); Etebo (Feirense, Portugal); Ogu (Hapoel Be’er Sheva)

Forwards:  Musa (Leicester); Iheanacho (Man City);  Simon (Gent); Moses (Chelsea); Iwobi (Arsenal);  Success (Watford); Bazee (Hannover 96); Osimhen (Wolfsburg)