Super Eagles head coach, Samson Siasia has tendered an apology to Fulham of England midfielder, Dickson Etuhu over the late invitation extended to him to be part of the Super Eagles team for the September 9 aborted friendly match between Super Eagles and their West African arch rivals, the Black Stars of Ghana in London. He stressed that the action was not meant to disregard any player.
Danny Shittu and Etuhu were handed late call-ups to feature for the botched international friendly match after injuries and visa hitches prevented several Super Eagles key players from honouring the match.
But the Fulham midfielder turned down the invitation to return to Super Eagles squad, describing the late invitation sent to him as disrespectful.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP SPORTS exclusively on Monday in Abuja, Siasia, who said he is not losing any sleep over the player’s action, appealed to the player to forgive him. “We had visa problems concerning some of our players and we had to make use of what we have. That was why we decided to extend invitation to some of the players in England. But if Etuhu feels it is disrespectful to him, then I am very sorry and he should forgive me for that because I don’t intend to disrespect any player. If he thinks I disrespected him with the late call-up, what about Shittu that came despite the late invitation. One has to make a sacrifice to get something but if he feels otherwise, I am sorry and I will not do that again. I don’t have any problem with him,” he said.
Siasia, however, refused to make any further comments on whether he will consider the player for future matches. “No comment for now. I will decide on that later,” he stated.
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