Luton Town Osho Pulls Out of Nigeria’s Friendlies against Ghana, Mali

Nigeria’s interim coach George Finidi will not be able to count on the services of Gabriel Osho for the national team’s upcoming friendlies against Ghana’s Black Stars and Mali’s Eagles later this month.

Osho did not receive the medical all-clear to link up with the Nigeria squad for the first time at their training camp in Marrakesh, Morocco next week. 

The former Reading development squad skipper would be devastated as he had been hoping to make his debut for Nigeria’s senior national team in March, nine years after he was dropped from the Golden Eaglets squad to the 2015 Fifa U17 World Cup.

He suffered a knee injury during the Hatters 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, leading to his substitution in the 79th minute, and wasn’t named in the traveling squad to Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Luton Town boss Rob Edwards is hoping to have Osho available for selection for the Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur on March 30.

In quotes relayed by Luton Today, Edwards told reporters at the pre-match press conference before the visit of Nottingham Forest: “I hope so, this rest now will be good for him.

“He’s still in pain today, so not going to be good for tomorrow. There’s about five centre backs out and there’s not many teams in the Premier League who would be able to cope with that, so it is difficult for us, but again I have to focus on the group we’ve got available to us and we trust them to go and get a result.”

This season, Osho has started sixteen games in the Premier League and was on target against Arsenal and Newcastle United.