Why Ighalo’s Super Eagles return is a waste of time

Odion Ighalo is synonymous with a phrase: “Favor over labor.”

One has to say his football career has pretty much gone that way having played for Lyn Oslo, Udinese, Granada, Cesena, Watford, Changchun Yatai, Shanghai Shenhua, Manchester United and currently Al Shabab in Saudi Arabia.

On the international scene, he played 35 times, making his debut in 1-0 friendly home loss by Uganda and hung up his boots after Nigeria finished third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, Ighalo finishing with a combined 12 goals during the qualifiers and tournament proper as top scorer in each phase.

Even though just 30 then, that was a nice way to bow out.

In normal fashion, the Super Eagles should be moving on without him but it seems not to be the case after Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, recently stated he had been in conversation with Ighalo about a return to the Super Eagles fold, citing he had been with his agent and club. 

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr went ahead to confirm Ighalo was included in the provisional squad for the World Cup qualifier against Cape Verde and Liberia in a few weeks time, stressing the team missed his leadership, experience and goals.

Ighalo on his part confirmed talks have been ongoing with Pinnick and Rohr about his return to the Super Eagles but won’t be rushed into making a decision. The entire development has however led to mixed reactions among fans.

Is Ighalo really needed back in the national team? 

While it is true that he does bring a wealth of experience as Rohr said, is it lacking in the team or the attack as the case is?

For a start, Nigeria has a lot of experienced players from Leon Balogun to William Troost-Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Alex Iwobi, Ahmed Musa, Moses Simon. Even for players on the fringes, there’s Shehu Abdullahi, Chidozie Awaziem and Kenneth Omeruo.

Now down to the forward line, there’s a plethora of names available from Victor Osimhen to Kelechi Iheanacho and who see regular game time. On the fringes are Taiwo Awoniyi, Emmanuel Dennis, Umar Sadiq, Simy Nwankwo, Peter Olayinka, Henry Onyekuru, Terem Moffi, Taiwo Awoniyi and Paul Onuachu.

Not even forgetting that there are some who are eligible to play for the country such as Anglo-Nigerian and RB Leipzig loanee, Ademola Lookman, who just needs to be cleared by FIFA should he make up his mind on where his international allegiance lies.

Also, its worth pointing out that there’s no guarantee Ighalo will shine on his return, reason him bowing out after Afcon 2019 was the best decision because history remembers he made a bad name for himself because of his poor Group D outing against Argentina at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, a game that desperately needed to be won to qualify out of the group. 

He was subsequently served with death threats to his family. So no surprises he called it quit so soon. 

Nigerians aren’t easy to forgive, case of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and his miss against South Korea at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa which would have aided qualification out of Group B but ultimately didn’t happen.

Why is there even the need for Ighalo? It’s not like Nigeria are in a tight situation with their World Cup qualification hopes or in for a woeful outing at next year’s Afcon in Cameroon.

Indeed, the situation is not like France who had to call the legendary Zinedine Zidane out of International retirement to help salvage their 2006 World Cup qualification hopes. Zidane was essentially the turnaround which extended to the tournament proper in Germany, but was stained by the ex-Real Madrid player getting sent off in the final against Italy which ultimately cost Les Bleu victory after a 5-3 penalty shootout defeat and also a chance for Zidane to win the FIFA World Player of the Year, for what would have been a then-record fourth time.

These are not the scenarios playing for Nigeria so what Pinnick or Rohr is after is anyone’s guess.

The NFF chief is found of meddling in on-field Super Eagles activities which shouldn’t be the case. However, in a country where political actors have the biggest say in football and sports in general, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Whether Ighalo will decide to return to the Super Eagles fold remains to be seen. Efforts have been made in the past to also bring back Victor Moses and 91-time-capped skipper, Mikel John Obi, but they didn’t heed and have remained focused on their club careers instead.

This should be the same for Ighalo. Of course, he could be back and do even better, but it’s too much of a risk knowing fully well things might not go according to the script and the result of that will not only be difficult to deal with, but it will put a big stain on an international career that ended so well in the first place.

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Kunle is an avid writer with interest in topics on sports, politics, health, lifestyle and more. His articles have featured in Goal.com, Opera News, Vanguard News and other platforms. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in International Relations and is an advocate for people living with Hydrocephalus and other neurological conditions.

Follow him on Twitter: @kfayiga

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