Arsenal loanee Tim Akinola has been called up to the Nigeria u23s for an u23 AFCON qualifier, in spite of his recent training injury.

Tim Akinola playing for Chesterfield FC (Photo via Chesterfield FC on Twitter)
Tim Akinola playing for Chesterfield FC (Photo via Chesterfield FC on Twitter)

Allnigeriasoccer.com report that Arsenal midfielder Tim Akinola has received an international call-up for the Nigeria u23s for their match against Tanzania on Saturday, October 29th.

Akinola has reportedly pledged his international future to Nigeria, and he’s accepted an invitation to play in their u23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier this month. The aggregate score is 1-1 going into the second leg.

The midfielder travelled to Lagos on Sunday before linking up with the Nigeria u23s on Monday, according to a report.

Though the call-up will be a boost to Akinola, it seems he faces a race against time to be fit for the game on Saturday.

Chesterfield boss Paul Cook confirmed ahead of Chesterfield’s match against Bromley this weekend that Akinola would be unavailable after suffering an injury in training. He missed out on that squad entirely.

Tim Akinola playing for Chesterfield FC (Photo via Chesterfield FC on Twitter)
Tim Akinola playing for Chesterfield FC (Photo via Chesterfield FC on Twitter)

It was an unfortunate blow for the midfielder, who had been working his way into the Chesterfield side game by game.

After a few substitute appearances, the Arsenal loanee played his first 90-minute match in Chesterfield’s last league game against Eastleigh, before missing out on Saturday’s fixture.

But the fact Akinola has seemingly travelled to Nigeria suggests the training injury was nothing too serious, so that’s good news at least.