Kelechi Iheanacho was not present at the pre-match conference of Wednesday’s semifinal face-off with South Africa going on Wednesday, while his rumoured beef with Peseiro reportedly deepens.
The Super Eagles forward has yet to play a single minute at the Cup of Nations.
Recall that it was rumoured that the forward insulted the Super Eagles manager before the tournament kicked off in January, which the manager came out to debunk, emphasizing that there were no issues between them and implying that the injury the forward sustained was the reason he had been missing out of action.
You know about Kelechi’s injury. He was recovering during our camping, he arrived at 4:30 am (on the day of the opener). He started collective work with us one day later. That is the reason.
Peseiro said back in January
However, Kelechi is not the only player yet to have game time in the tournament as other players like Ahmed Musa, Bruno Onyemaechi, and Terem Moffi haven’t featured as well.
Iheanacho was supposed to do the press conference with his coach as announced by CAF but the forward was missing in action. Ola Aina instead replaced him at the media round.
According to reports, the player feels disgusted at his lack of playing time in the tournament so far.
Words coming out from the camp say that the Portuguese tactician is finding it difficult to fit the forward into his 3-4-3 style of play and he prefers using defensive players from the bench to the attackers.
However, the coach had come out last month to say that was not the case and he is still maintaining his stance on it. He said he would not have listed the forward for the tournament if that was the case.
If something happened between me and Kelechi, he wouldn’t have come, he would have stayed back at Leicester,”
Peseiro said
