According to the Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi, the youngster has missed one week training with the team since he opted to leave camp to sign for English club, Manchester City.
It is believed that the City deal may have fallen through leaving the youngster and his representatives considering other options.
But Keshi explained to supersport.com that Iheanacho had a bright chance of making the Super Eagles squad for the CHAN which kicks off on January 11 after impressing while in camp.
“Kelechi did really impress us and at the time he was in camp with us he had started getting used to our style of play, the players and officials. In fact he had started bonding well on and off the pitch with other players. Unfortunately when the call came that he was going abroad to sign a deal for Manchester City I couldn’t have stopped him since he had the backing of his family.
“Right now he’s not part of our plans for the CHAN because we’ve gone ahead with our preparation and team-building without him. And mind you he has lost one week of training and that’s a big gap to catch up with,” said Keshi said on Friday.
Keshi is now ready to soldier on with the players available in the build-up to the competition next month.
“There are other players in camp who are committed and we will have to work with them and get the best out of them for the tournament,” said the Delta-born coach.
The Nigerian squad will continue their pre-CHAN programme with a friendly against a Port Harcourt selected team this Saturday and round off with another game against the nation’s top flight champions, Kano Pillars next week.
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