Al-Kholood of Saudi Arabia defender, William Troost-Ekong has downplayed the impact of him starting on the Super Eagles’ bench during Thursday’s match against Gabon and stressed that he did not see it as disgraceful, Sports247 reports.
Rather than take offence and attack Eagles’ coach, Eric Chelle, for preferring to keep him out of his starting line-up in recent games, Ekong reckoned that it is simply because the team is blessed with many other players who could lead on the pitch.
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He also took a swipe at some of his former clubmates, including Troy Deeney, who was the captain at Watford of England during their time together with the team in the English Premier League.
The well-travelled centre back, who has also played for Haugesund of Norway, Racing Genk of Belgium, PAOK Saloniki of Greece and Udinese of Italy among many others, further pointed out that he still has a strong pedigree that should be respected.
He then reeled out the names of some of his colleagues in the Super Eagles, who he believes have leadership qualities that should be respected and they could be called upon to replace him for any game if the need arises.
“We have multiple leaders in this team. Victor Osimhen is a leader who inspires the team. We also have Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi and Moses Simon. We have players who are really coming of age and showing what they can do.
“But, I don’t think you can wipe something (already achieved) away because someone is on the bench. I’ve got 83 caps for Nigeria. I’ve also gone on to captain Watford in some matches,” Ekong pointed out.
Sports247 gathered further that, although no official statement has been made by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) about punishing Ekong for leading the Eagles’ recent boycott of training, the mulatto centre back may actually be closer to the team’s exit door.
