By Daily Sports on January 1, 2022

While Emmanuel Dennis was expressing his delight at his invitation for the Africa Cup of Nations slated for Cameroon, the eggheads at Watford were having other ideas concerning the striker. The Hornets not ready to lose their jewel to the biennial competition capitalised on the late NFF’s invitation email sent to the club, but the Nigeria federation would not have any of it, insisting Dennis must join the party to Cameroon. The federation yesterday however made a U-turn on its initial stand by dropping the former Brugge striker.

Watford Manager Claudio Ranieri had claimed Nigeria missed the deadline date to call up Emmanuel Dennis for the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning Watford could stop their star striker from leaving to take part in the tournament.

Dennis was called up by Nigeria for AFCON penultimate weekend and the 24-year-old was due to meet up with his national side after New Year’s Day but Ranieri believes Watford have grounds to keep him at Vicarage Road.

The Hornets boss says Nigeria failed to send a ‘pre-call’ before a specific deadline.
Dennis, 24, was named in Nigeria’s 28-man AFCON squad on Boxing Day and gushed over the news on Twitter, posting: ‘Proud to get a call up to represent my country.’

However, Ranieri has since cast doubt over his participation in the event, as he believes Watford have grounds to keep him after Nigeria failed to submit a ‘pre-call’ before a specific deadline.
‘I’m not so sure I’ll miss Dennis now and if he goes to the national team, we have to wait,’ the Hornets boss said.

‘The email didn’t arrive at the right moment. The national team has a time to send a pre-call. They didn’t respect the days, and I want to see.’
Ranieri added: ‘The email arrived late. They have a time when they need to send a pre-call; if they don’t send it, we can choose.’

Dennis, who has scored eight goals for Ranieri’s 17th-place side, was due to meet up with the Nigeria squad after Watford’s Premier League clash with Tottenham on New Year’s Day, but that has now been thrown into doubt.

Sources close to the player have revealed that while he is still hoping to go, Dennis does not want to cause any issues with his current employers.

According to the Watford Observer, the Nigerian Football Federation deny any wrongdoing and was confident that Dennis will be involved next month.

They believe clubs need to be notified five days before individual matches and 10 days in advance of a tournament, which would allow them to send the pre-call on December 30 given AFCON does not get underway until January 9.

Dennis have eventually been dropped out of Nigeria’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Hornets have reportedly refused to release Dennis, who has scored eight Premier League goals this season.

A NFF statement said Dennis had been excused because Watford were “baring fangs”.
Dennis, 24, will now be available for Watford’s league games against fellow strugglers Newcastle and Norwich, as well as their FA Cup third round tie at Leicester City on 8 January.
Watford manager Claudio Ranieri said: “I knew the board and Nigerian board were speaking. I accept every decision they find and that for me is finished.”

Asked whether the decision for Dennis to remain with his club disrespected Afcon, Ranieri added: “No. They have a lot of players and then they changed the managers and everything. We were ready to give over the players, they didn’t do it. The two boards spoke and for me it is OK.
“Of course he wanted to go to play but he also wanted to help Watford.”

Dennis have been replaced by Sparta Prague striker Peter Olayinka.
Nigeria’s opening fixture at the tournament then comes two days later against Egypt.
Dennis has three caps for Nigeria, but the last of his three appearances came over a year ago in a 0-0 draw against Sierra Leone.

Since then, he has been overlooked for national team engagements.
But his move to Watford from Club Brugge in the summer offered him a fresh opportunity, which he has duly taken.

The Nigerian attacker has scored eight goals and recorded five assists in 15 Premier League games for the Hornets this season, which has earned him a recall to the national team.
Indeed, Arsenal icon Ian Wright has highlighted the importance of Dennis to the Watford side after the red-hot striker scored again in a 4-1 loss to West Ham United in a Premier League clash at Vicarage Road.

With his strike against the Hammers, the Nigeria international has been directly involved in 20 goals in his last eight Premier League games for the Hornets (six goals, four assists), having a hand in 66.7 percent of the goals Watford have scored in these games.

Statistically, those numbers clearly show Dennis’ importance to Watford, who could be without their talisman for at least three matches in the coming weeks.

Speaking on Premier League Productions’ Premier League Wrap, Wright said: “At the start Tim Sherwood mentioned that Dennis is the one if anything could happen it’s probably going to come from him.
“That’s beautifully taken, composure, he’s not rushing that.

“He’s going to be sorely missed when he goes to the AFCON because that’s exactly what Watford need”
The Nigerian forward is one of the hottest African prospects in Europe right now, but he could miss out on his chance to represent Nigeria because of administrative hiccups.

A solution is still currently being discussed between the club and the NFF but the situation is expected to be resolved in the coming days, with club sources saying they are keen not to show any disrespect to national sides.

Dennis has emerged as one of the bargain signings of the summer transfer window, with Watford paying four million euros to Club Brugge to sign the striker.

Interestingly, West Ham captain Mark Noble has labelled Dennis’ early strike in the Hammers’ 4-1 rout of Watford a great goal.
The Hornets suffered their fifth successive loss in the Premier League on Tuesday evening despite their Nigerian talisman giving them the lead in the fourth minute.

Dennis fired a rising shot into the top corner to break the deadlock after evading the challenge of Craig Dawson, taking his tally in the top-flight to eight goals in the process.

Speaking to BBC Sport post-match, the Hammers captain said: “I think it was always going to be tough here because we had a lot of players here who played two days ago and Watford had a lot of time off with Covid issues.

“They started with a great goal for Dennis but then I think we controlled the half and deserved to go 2-1 up.”
Only Liverpool’s Egypt winger Mohamed Salah (24) has had more goal involvements than Dennis (13) in the Premier League so far this season. (THISDAY)

•PHOTO: Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 1, 2022

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