Wilfred Ndidi ruled out for action for six weeks as he wins Leicester Young Player of the Year

SUPER Eagles midfield lynchpin Wilfred Ndidi will be out of action for six weeks and might miss Nigeria's planned friendly against England at Wembley on June 2 after picking up a hamstring injury.

Ndidi, 21, has been a revelation over the last two years for both the Super Eagles and his clubside Leicester City. Last week, however, he picked up a hamstring injury in a Premier league match against Crystal Palace and the Leicester team doctors have suggested that he will miss the rest of the season.

During the match last Saturday, Ndidi, who was just voted the Leicester City Young Player of the Year, was substituted in the second half. He is now expected to spend the next month and half recovering as he prepared for Nigeria's World Cup outing.

One Nigerian Football Federation source said: ”Ndidi will be ready for the World Cup, the result of the scan is out and they will put him on a programme to get him back to fitness. He will initially be out of action for four weeks and will need two weeks extra to be fully fit.”

Only yesterday, Ndidi was pipped to the Leicester City Player of the Season by defender Harry Maguire but was named Young Player of the Year. Ndidi, alongside Maguire and striker Jamie Vardy, were the final three shortlisted for the award.

However, Ndidi beat Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray to take the prestigious Young Player annual prize for the second year in succession.  This season, he has made 33 appearances in the league to help Claude Puel’s men stay ninth with 44 points from 35 matches.

Also, he leads the Premier League tackle chart with 138 tackles ahead of Idrissa Gueye and N’Golo Kante. Nigeria will badly need him come the World Cup but it is not yet clear if he will be fit in time for the June 2 friendly against England.