A member of the Nigeria’s Under-20 World Cup team, Victor Eletu, has been dragged into club versus country row as Serie A champions AC Milan have informed the NFF they will not release him for the World Cup.
The club said the highly-rated midfielder will be fully engaged for the next one month in Italy.
However, Milan have now turned down a request by the NFF to release Eletu, 18 this month, for the World Cup by May 1, 2023.
“Milan have said they will not release Eletu because he will be very busy in the next four weeks. football official informed scorenigeria.
“The boy is important to the team’s U19s, where he has often captained them, but we hope we can still get them to release him in time for the World Cup.
“We will continue to talk to the club because he will most certainly bring great value to the Flying Eagles.”
To underline how highly Milan rate Eletu, technical director Paolo Maldini has had to convene a special meeting to discuss the matter, a top source further informed.
It is another case of club versus country and Milan enjoy the advantage as the U20 World Cup is not in the FIFA international calendar and as such they will not be sanctioned should they not release the player.
The Flying Eagles coaching crew has been widely praised for considering a player of such high standing like Eletu for the World Cup in Argentina.
