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Covid-19: Paul Onuachu To Replace Victor Osimhen For Algeria, Tunisia Friendlies

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Super Eagles have given a late call-up for Paul Onuachu.

News Rain Nigeria gathered that ahead of the international friendlies against Algeria and Tunisia, the Nigeria’s Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has handed a late call-up to Racing Genk striker Paul Onuachu

The call-up which was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation on Sunday morning was a replacement for Napoli summer signing Victor Osimhen who has been excused from the Super Eagles games against the North African teams.

Paul Onuachu To Replace Victor Osimhen For Algeria, Tunisia Friendlies

It will be recalled that two Napoli players Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas, and staff member Giandomenico Costi tested positive for COVID-19 in the wake of their 6-0 win against Genoa last weekend.

Therefore, to prevent the spread of the virus, it is recommended that players, including Osimhen, who were in direct contact with the players diagnosed with COVID-19 will quarantine for fourteen days, which effectively rules the Nigerian out of the Super Eagles friendlies.

Onuachu’s history in Super Eagles began in February 2015, when he was called up to the Nigerian under-23 national team. In March 2019 he received his first call-up to the Nigerian senior national team.

And on 26 March 2019, Onuachu scored his first goal for the Nigerian team in a friendly match against Egypt. The goal was scored within the first ten seconds of the game, and the fastest ever scored for Nigeria. Following the goal, he became “toast of Nigerian football” with “his coach, team-mates, journalists and fans talking about him”. He was selected to the Nigeria squad for the 2019 African Cup of Nations. He played in Nigeria’s 1-0 win over Burundi

His last appearance in a Super Eagles shirt was in a friendly against Brazil on October 13, 2019, coming off the bench to replace Osimhen in the 74th minute.