SCORENigeria can exclusively reveal that striker Ahmed Abdullahi has had to forgo his salary for a month at Belgian club KAA Gent for him to feature at the U20 AFCON in Egypt.
Gent had initially refused to release the all-action striker because the U20 AFCON is not on the international football calendar.
However, the Belgian club later opted to release him on the condition that he will not be paid a salary in his absence.
“The boy agreed to this condition and signed on it,” a source close to the player informed SCORENigeria
This comes even as the NFF have not revealed any monetary incentives for the team in Egypt.
Ahmed joined the Flying Eagles squad directly from his base in Belgium.
Unfortunately for the striker though he saw red on the opening day of the U20 AFCON when he bagged a second booking for dangerous play as a late sub against Senegal.
He will now miss the remaining Group A game against Mozambique Saturday, but will be available for selection should the Flying Eagles advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.
Interestingly, Ahmed also made the headlines at the qualifying tournament for the U20 AFCON in May when he was hospitalised after he collided with the Burkina Faso goalkeeper.
He scored twice at the qualifiers.
