Nigeria’s AFCON 2023 hero, William Troost-Ekong set to miss the rest of the season through injury

William Troost-Ekong featured in six of Nigeria’s seven games at the AFCON 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast, scoring three goals.

AFCON 2023 player of the tournament and Super Eagles centre-back, William Troost-Ekong, is set to miss the remainder of the footballing season due to an injury, Soccernet.ng reports.

Ekong, 30, was an integral part of Jose Peseiro’s team as Nigeria made their way to the AFCON 2023 final which he scored in, only to fall short to a late Ivory Coast winner by Borussia Dortmund’s Sebastien Haller.

The former Watford midfielder picked up a hamstring injury in the group-stage clash between the Super Eagles and the Elephants of Ivory Coast, and he missed the next game against Guinea-Bissau.

However, he chose to play through the pain, playing every minute of the competition from there on, including a hundred and twenty minutes against South Africa, and has now suffered a ripple effect of the sacrifice he made.

As per Fabrizio Romano, the PAOK defender will undergo surgery in Finland tomorrow to repair a ruptured biceps femoris in his right leg.

🇳🇬 Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong, in Finland for minor surgery.

The injury occurred during the 2nd group stage game vs Ivory Coast.

Despite the injury, William became Player of the Tournament… and he’s expected to return to play for PAOK towards the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/M9NQTfPTwu

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 26, 2024

Ekong joins Victor Osimhen, Ola Aina and Zaidu Sanusi on the list of Super Eagles players who chose to don the Nigerian jersey on the pitch in Abidjan despite being in pain.

He will be a huge miss for PAOK Thessaloniki F.C. as they continue their European run. They will play against Dinamo Zagreb at the Stadion Maksimir in ten days.

PAOK will welcome the twenty-four-time Croatian champions to the Toumba Stadium for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round of sixteen tie on March 14th.