Portuguese Primeira Liga side Benfica have confirmed defender Tyronne Ebuehi out of Nigeria’s September 10 international friendly against Ukraine at the 31,000-capacity Dnipro Arena in Kyiv, Ukraine, following a muscle injury copped by the former ADO Den Haag of Holland righ back last week in training.
According to A Bola, Portugal’s highly authoritative newspaper, Ebuehi is expected to be out for between three and six weeks and may not be match fit for the game.
The newspaper however revealed that the Benfica medical team will have to compare notes with the Nigeria Football Federation before any decision can be made over the availability of the player but says it is almost certain that the player who has not played more than 28 minutes of football in about a year will be risked for a friendly game.
Ebuehi’s highly promising career has been slowed down since he joined Benfica from Dutch side ADO Den Haag before the start of last season. He spent the whole of last season nursing a cruciate ligament injury he copped in the Portuguese side’s training session.
The full-back recovered to join Benfica’s pre-season program ahead of the current season and played some friendly games. He was an unused substitute on the bench Portuguese champions bea Sporting Lisbon 5-0 to win the 2019 Super Cup on August 4.
He sustained a thigh muscle injury in training last week which has now beeb confirmed serious enough to sideline him a bit longer.
Ebuehi was not considered for selection for Nigeria’s squad to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt due to his injury situation. But Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, listed him for the upcoming high profile international friendly against Ukraine as he looks to hone a new generation of the Nigerian team. But the German will now has to wait longer before having the talented young right-back for a possible integration into his dream team.