Sadiq suffers hamstring injury

Sadiq Umar could spend up to eight weeks sidelined after suffering a right hamstring injury with Valencia. The Nigerian striker limped out of training on Monday, a day after playing the full 90 minutes and scoring in Valencia’s 3-1 defeat to newly promoted Deportivo La Coruña.

Valencia said tests confirmed an injury in the right hamstring region. The club said Umar would follow a medical, physiotherapy and rehabilitation programme until he was fit to rejoin the team.

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Nobody called me. Maybe it’s not the kind of profile they wanted.

The setback comes as Umar had featured regularly for Valencia at the start of the campaign. Arnaut Danjuma and Hugo Duro are expected to take on greater responsibility during his absence. His recovery timeline could also keep him out of Nigeria’s opening 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches, against Madagascar on September 23 and Guinea-Bissau four days later.

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I am thinking that maybe I should retire from the national team, by the grace of Allah. I’ll wait until the new season starts, then sit down and think about what I want to do next.

Umar has not appeared for Nigeria since November 2024 and has slipped down the national team’s order of attacking options. Coach Éric Chelle can call on Victor Osimhen, Akor Adams, Tolu Arokodare, Cyriel Dessers and Rafiu Durosinmi.

In an interview with RFI Hausa, Umar said international retirement was among the options he was considering. “Nobody called me. Maybe it’s not the kind of profile they wanted,” he said. “I am thinking that maybe I should retire from the national team, by the grace of Allah. I’ll wait until the new season starts, then sit down and think about what I want to do next.”

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Following the tests carried out, it has been observed that the player Sadiq Umar suffers from an injury to the right hamstring region, suffered in the match last Sunday against RC Deportivo de A Coruña.