Southampton's Onuachu called up as a last minute replacement for injured Sadiq Umar

SOUTHAMPTON striker Paul Onuachu has been handed a last minute invitation to join the Super Eagles squad at the ongoing African Cup of Nations as a replacement for the injured Sadiq Umar who had to pull out with a knee injury.

Tomorrow, Nigeria gets her tournament going when the Eagles face Equatorial Guinea in their opening game. In the run-up to the tournament, the Eagles have been plagued with a lot of injury problems leading to midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and striker Victor Boniface having to withdraw from the squad.

Now, the team has suffered another blow as Real Sociedad striker Sadiq Umar has had to pull out of the tournament too. Onuachu, 29, the Southampton striker currently out on loan to Turkish side Trabzonspor, has been drafted in as a last minute replacement and will join the squad as long as his club agrees to release him.

It became apparent that Sadiq could play no further part in matters yesterday when all he could do was watch training from the sidelines at Ecole de Police, Abidjan. He has picked up his unfortunate injury during the Eagles' last friendly game against Guinea and is now set for an immediate return to his club for treatment.

So far this season, Onuachu has been impressive in the Turkish league, where he has scored nine goals in 15 games. Nigeria's Super Eagles are in a challenging group in the Nations Cup alongside Equatorial Guinea, hosts Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau.