Celtic have blocked a move by Nigeria to take Efe Ambrose to the Rio Olympics.
Brendan Rodgers is wrestling with injury problems in central defence, with Croatian Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata likely to miss the start of the Scottish Premiership season.
And Nigeria Under 23 boss Samson Siasia wanted to decimate the Parkhead manager’s backline further by whipping Ambrose off to an American training camp during Champions League qualifiers as one of his three over-age players.
He has since not been included in Siasia's 35 man list for the Olympics.
With no FIFA regulations forcing clubs to release players for the Rio games, however, Celtic have told the 27-year-old he is needed at home for the opening weeks of the new campaign. Ambrose flew to Slovenia with the squad on Monday for a 10-day pre-season camp.
He has since not been included in Siasia's 35 man list for the Olympics.
Honestly, Olympics overall are now a joke and have been mixed up with business. Gone are the days of Bob Beaman, the Coe/Ovett rivalry and Daley Thompson, today's Olympic events are decided by whichever country can develop a drug undetectable by WADA. Hope there would be athletes who will face drug testing failure in the recent Rio 2016 Olympics.
ReplyDelete