Hope Akpan Awaits Final Clearance For Action

Reading of England midfielder, Hope Akpan, has started training with his club’s first team in the United Kingdom and should be cleared fit to resume competitive football action by the end of this month, Super Eagles doctor, Ibrahim Gyaran, declared at the weekend.

Doctor Gyaran, who said he has been mandated by the Nigeria Football Federation to keep tabs on all injured national team players, said he has been following up on Akpan after the star midfielder pulled a shoulder in the Super Eagles 2-0 away win over Congo Brazzaville in Pointe Noire in the run-up to the ongoing Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea.

He noted that it has become a tradition in the NFF and the Super Eagles for officials to keep tabs on the welfare of players in particular and the entire staff of the team in general.

 “Team’s Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor, has been working on that alongside the Head Coach and the medical team to ensure that players and officials of the national team are in good health at all times”, he said.

He further announced that following his interaction with Akpan, he got to know that he has a final clearance to do with doctors in England by the end of January to enable him resume active football action with his clubside.

 “I want to re-emphasise that Hope Akpan has started active training with the first team of Reading and only awaits final clearance from the doctors who operated on his shoulder by the end of this month to resume full action with his club side”, Gyaran declared.