The fortunes of Nigeria's first choice centre back William Troost Ekong at Turkish club Bursaspor has gone down the drain following the sacking of French coach Paul Le Guen earlier this month.
A regular starter prior to the departure of Le Guen, Ekong has now been relegated to the bench for the 2 consecutive games played. He is now behind West Brom linked Turkey U21 star Ertuğrul Ersoy and Cristian Chagas Tarouco in the pecking order of central defenders at Bursaspor.
Nigerian fans are already drawing parallels with what happened to Anmed Musa at Leicester City following the sacking of Cladio Ranieri when the winger was relegated to the bench and ultimately to the reserve team before he mercifully made his way back to CSKA Moscow where he now enjoys a new lease of life in his career.
Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr has shown so much faith in Troost-Ekong as he is the only player to have started and completed every single game, thirteen in total including the World Cup qualifier vs Algeria, since the German was appointed coach.
it remains to be seen whether this change in club fortune will jeopardise his starting role in the national team.