Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Alebiosu will remain with Nigeria despite his injury setback, reports Completesports.com.
Alebiosu suffered a deep cut on his right leg in Nigeria’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations last group game against the Cranes of Uganda on Tuesday night.
According to Blackburn Xtra, the right-back underwent a scan on Wednesday to ascertain the severity of the injury.
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It has now been confirmed that he will be sidelined for a couple of weeks, despite reports of a month-long absence.
The 24-year-old will remain with Nigeria during AFCON and will not return to Blackburn.
Alebiosu made his debut for the Super Eagles in the win over Uganda.
The Super Eagles, who have an hundred percent record at AFCON 2025 will face the Mambas of Mozambique in the Round of 16 in Fès next week Monday.
By Adeboye Amosu
2 Comments
Are we just being unduly carried away by Alebiosu just because he is a fresh faces and a dual nationality player at that? How good really was he against Uganda?
If he were a homebase playern or one playing in an East African league, who delivered exactly the same output like-for-like like Alebiosu, I think some fans would have come out to condemn his performance outright.
Personally, I felt Benjamin Tanimu delivered a professional performance under Finidi but he could never escape the odour of unacceptably that came with his background which would always obscure and strip away any objectivity in how his performance is judged. I miss Tanimu, you know: I know I am in a minority regarding Tanimu but I hope to see him in a Super Eagles outfit near me soon .
Alebiosu’s 1v1 take-ons were largely unsuccessful. His puny tricks were amusing and easily repelled by Ugandan defenders and, in some of those situations, he left his colleagues vulnerable as, if you remember, he was overlapping hence we were minus-1 in defence.
Aina is class, honestly. His 1v1 take-ons are neat, tidy and traumatic to opposition defenders. Even Osayi-Samuel pulls off moderately successful easy-on-the-eye 1v1s. But for me, both Aina and Osayi-Samuel denude the Super Eagles of width.
They both tend to come deep to invert and overload the centre. Nothing wrong with this. But some of us older fans of a particular persuasion still harbour affection for old fashioned fullbacks who bomb to the by-line to deliver deft crosses – this is where Alebiosu shines, that was where Alebiosu got injured.
As I saw him race down the by-line, with the opposition defender in toe, I punched the air and shouted: Oh F*ck-Yeah! Alebiosu instantly grabbed my attention and locked it in place for the duration, winning my affection instantly, instantly I forgave all those failed 1v1 take-ons.
Can you imagine, Bruno Onyemaechi on the left and Alebiosu on the right, stretching the pitch to breaking point from either end before spraying the box 18 with stray bullets of crosses. Something tells me Onuachu and Osihmen will be smiling all the way to the bank of goals!
I always felt that our right side was often under utilised. There is always this area that is left fallow that is begging for crosses to be delivered from, from where Sodiq Ismail duly delivered to Cyril Dessers to score against Ghana on May’s Unity Cup in England.
Personally, I think the Super Eagles can do with more of such spicy and expansive fullbacks who pull opposition defenders out of position with purposeful crosses from wide.
It looks pretty, it lands nicely, it connects greatly, particularly when you have strikers like Dessers who make a living from converting off such crosses.
Dear Deo,
Deftly said! I salute you for this comment. Thank you for the balance and the analysis.
9Ja4Real