La Liga Club Set to Block Player From Honouring First Super Eagles Call-Up

• Eric Chelle announced his first Super Eagles provisional squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier
• The former Mali national team head coach handed first call-ups to eight new players ahead of the games
• A La Liga club has potentially ruled out their player from joining the team eight days before the camp opens

Eric Chelle is faced with a situation of one of his new Super Eagles invitees not turning up to camp if he makes the final squad with his club set to block him from joining.

Chelle was appointed as the new Super Eagles head coach in January and was given the responsibility of helping the team qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

After a long wait, the manager announced his first squad early last week, naming 39 players in a provisional squad that will be trimmed to 23 players this week before camp opens.

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The manager handed invitations to eight new players, including three players from the Nigerian Premier Football League, with some of them set to make the final list.

Sevilla set to block Adams

Sevilla star Akor Adams was one of the eight new players handed their first call-ups to the national team by Chelle, off the back of an impressive first half of the season at Montpellier.

He joined Sevilla in the January transfer window, becoming the third Nigerian player at the club after Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidera Ejuke joined in the summer.

Adams could now miss out on teaming with the Super Eagles even if he makes the final list after Sevilla head coach Garcia Pimienta confirmed he will have to be cleared by the medical team first.

“To go with the national team, I understand that he should first be cleared by Sevilla,” Pimienta said, as quoted by Marca.

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The Spaniard claimed that if the former Montpellier forward is not called up to Sevilla's squad this weekend against Real Sociedad and next week, then he will not join the national team because he would not be cleared to compete, depending on the medical team’s recommendations.

“I understand that they will want to call him up, but for that to happen, he has to be 100 percent. He should help us first,” he concluded.

As noted by Transfermarkt, Adams has only played nine minutes for Sevilla against Getafe since joining for €15 million in January and has been out with a hamstring injury.

He has missed five league games, and even though he is back on the grass, he has not returned to the squad and could miss this weekend’s game against Real Sociedad.

He is unlikely to make the final squad. The Super Eagles squad is stacked in attack, and a player who hasn't played in three months is unlikely to be considered.

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Adams speaks about joining Sevilla

Legit.ng previously reported that Adams named who convinced him to join Sevilla during his first interview as the club's new player from Montpellier in January.

He met two Nigerian players at the club, Ejuke and Iheanacho, but the latter left the club and joined Middlesbrough on loan after struggling to adapt.

Source: Legit.ng