According to manager Gernot Rohr, Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has taken a sabbatical from international football. This is coming after the coach had omitted the midfielder from the 23 players invited for next month's games with South Africa and Uganda.
The international future of the captain has been up in the air after he made himself unavailable for selection for the three Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Seychelles and Libya.
Rohr has finally run out of excuses, especially as the 31-year-old is back playing at his Chinese club, and was forced to admit that his captain does not want to represent the senior national team for now.
”Mikel told me that he will tell me when he will be ready to come back. He didn't tell me yet. So I wait,” Rohr told Kwese ESPN.
“I hope that we can go with him to AFCON and win it for him.”
Mikel last wore a Super Eagles jersey in their 2-1 loss to Argentina in a group game at the 2018 World Cup.
Mikel has earned 85 caps for the Super Eagles since he debuted against Libya thirteen years ago.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
