'I was angry for weeks & nearly fought with Watford when they didn't let me come for Rio Olympics' - Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo
Odion Ighalo was invited to play for the Under 23 team at the
recently concluded Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil but surprisingly didn't
join the team's camp. He's now revealed that he really wanted to come to
the Olympics and that his insistence nearly caused trouble between him,
his club Watford and his club's chairman Gino Pozzo.
According
to Ighalo, he apologizes to Nigerians for not joining up with the Under
23 team that triumphed at Rio 2016 but he tried all his best and that
if the tournament was in FIFA calendar even his club wouldn't stop him.
'Yeah,
my club didn't allow me to go, i had some issues with them, some
problems, i sat down with the president to discuss with him about going
to the Olympics'. Ighalo exclusively told Lind Ikejis Blog on Thursday.
'He
said no, your not going to the Olympics you are our top striker, the
season will soon start and we don't want you to go and get injured and
not be able to play for us at the beginning of the season' 'we have big
games and we need you'
'I said no, this is
Olympics, i want to go, for weeks i was angry with the club even my club
manager had to call me but there was nothing i could do as it was not a
FIFA recognized event and was outside the FIFA window'' He told LIB.
'Then
they offered me a new contract, so that was it. I will like Nigerians
to know that i did my best, i tried to fight, i tried to be at Rio but
nothing i could do because am under contract with them and the
tournament is not compulsory as it was not under FIFA's calendar'
'If it was under FIFA's calendar, there's no stopping me but as it wasn't they had every right not to release me'
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