Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic has revealed that Nigerian defender Semi Ajayi will feature in more matches for the club before heading to the African Cup of Nations next month, SportPremi reports.
The 32-year-old is expected to make the Super Eagles squad for the 2025 AFCON tournament in Morocco which will commence on the 21st of December.
The former Arsenal center-back has represented Nigeria 45 times since making his debut against Seychelles in 2019.
He played every every minute of the Super Eagles run to the final of the 2024 African Cup of Nations, where they eventually suffered a 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast.
He was also included in Nigeria’s squad for the November CAF playoffs against Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month.
Ajayi played the entire 90 minutes in the defeat to the latter in the playoff final and he was amongst the Super Eagles players to miss their spot-kick as they bowed out.
The defender who joined the club on loan in the summer has played eight times in the English Football League Championship, making five starts.
Everything Sergej Jakirovic said
Sergej Jakirovic has led Hull City to seven wins from their opening 17 matches as they chase a return to the English Premier League after a long absence.
The 48-year-old stated that Semi Ajayi will play more games before the AFCON tournament to manage the workload within the entire squad.
“Semi will play even more now. He will play more because he is going to the African Cup Nations on December 10.
“So I will try to spare (John) Egan because we don’t have so many centre-backs. We have Charlie (Hughes) and (Akin) Famewo”, the Hull City boss said.
“Lunny (Lundstram). But I am aware that Lunny is almost eight weeks out. He will need time for sure.
“We will give him minutes and increase the minutes. Then we will see. I hope it will be OK.”
On their last opponent (Ipswich Town)
“We faced a very good team, they will come up for sure and they will be in the top five”, Jakirovic added.
“They are very good. This is also their quality and they have a very big roster.
“They are a Premier League team and have spent almost £200m. Everything is clear. But we already showed against Leicester and Southampton, especially when we are all together (fit), that we can play against everyone”, he admitted.
“I have no doubt that we can play against everyone. I am praying all the time that we are all together. This is the main target for us. Until the 70th minute, I was very pleased. I cannot say anything to them. They were very aggressive and completely different from QPR on Saturday.”
Hull City face a tough test against an Stoke City in their next match on Saturday in the English Championship.
