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Super Eagles attacking winger Moses Simon has expressed his sadness for injured Benjamin Fredrick, insisting that the rock-solid defender will be missed in the team’s defence line at the 2025 African Cup of Nations which kicks off this weekend.
Barely six months ago, Benjamin Fredrick was a virtual unknown to the overwhelming majority of Nigeria football fans, and certainly was not even in the reckoning for a Super Eagles place.
The 20-year-old’s excellent displays, both at centreback and right back, had led to restricted minutes for Troost-Ekong, and may have somewhat accelerated the veteran defender’s retirement announcement.
That announcement was not expected to be much of an issue, until Fredrick himself was ruled out with that unfortunate injury, meaning Chelle lost two key pieces of his defensive unit within weeks of each other.
But Fredrick, who has been tried and tested, remains a major loss for the Super Eagles and his absence could well be a factor for how the Super Eagles perform at AFCON.
But it is not just on the field that Nigeria will miss the Brentford defender. The 20-year-old was poised to make history in a unique storyline with forward Moses Simon. Both would have been the first academy owner, academy player duo to play together at the Nations Cup, after doing the same already at the Unity Cup and in qualifying.
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Simon, who plays for Paris FC, runs the Simoiben Academy, which discovered, developed and mentored Fredrick, and he told ESPN how it felt to play alongside his mentee.
“It is very emotional for me,” Simon said. “It is an unbelievable big dream to play with the young one you helped to the top. The feeling is something else. It is like a father and son playing alongside each other.
“It is a thing of joy for me. I’m proud of myself, I’m proud of what I’m doing and I’m proud of the people around that encourage me and assist me also. But I am sad that he will not be here. Not because I just want us to play together, but because he will help us if he was here.”
Meanwhile, Troost-Ekong says Simon deserves praise for discovering such an amazing talent: “Credit to him for his work and to my teammate, Moses Simon, for giving him the opportunity at his academy before he went to Brentford.
It’s things that we love to see.”
