Yohanna & Femi Azeez – Why Brighton wingers are doubts for Nigeria’s September AFCON qualifiers

Super Eagles wingers Zadok Yohanna and Femi Azeez are both doubts for Nigeria’s opening 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Madagascar on 23 September and Guinea-Bissau on 27 September, Afrik-Foot reports.

Yohanna joined from AIK Stockholm in the summer and has been ruled out until after the international break as head coach Fabian Hurzeler manages his adaptation to Premier League intensity.

Femi Azeez joined on deadline day from Millwall and is now expected to miss a third consecutive Brighton fixture on Sunday at Coventry City with a hamstring problem.

Zadok Yohanna: The Premier League adaptation problem

Fabian Hurzeler confirmed today that the winger will not return until after the September international break, and attributed the extended absence to the physical demands of adjusting to the top-flight game.

Hurzeler said the Seagulls have to be careful with the 19-year-old, showing Yohanna is still being eased into life in the English top flight.

The Swedish Allsvenskan, being a developmental league, operates at a considerably lower training-load intensity than the Premier League, and the gap between the two has already produced a soft-tissue issue serious enough to sideline him for approximately five weeks.

Brighton’s next fixture after the international break is at Sunderland on 10 October.

For Yohanna, that timeline effectively rules out any possibility of making his Super Eagles debut.

Femi Azeez’s hamstring problem

Azeez’s situation is complicated by a different problem. The 25-year-old carries a hamstring injury he first sustained on the opening day of the Championship season at Millwall.

He then missed three matches before completing the deadline-day switch to Brighton.

Hurzeler’s most recent Azeez update, delivered in Thursday’s press conference ahead of the Coventry game, was that the Nigerian will hopefully be an option if nothing goes wrong.

Brighton’s next Premier League fixture after Sunday’s Coventry trip is at home to Arsenal on 19 September.

Nigeria host Madagascar in Uyo on 23 September. That four-day window between Brighton’s final pre-break fixture and the AFCON qualifier is the schedule that would force Azeez to travel to Nigeria without the guaranteed club-level match sharpness Chelle’s system demands.

For Yohanna, the picture is straightforward. Hurzeler has ruled him out until after the international break, meaning he cannot feature for either Brighton or Nigeria across the entire September window.

The impact of these Brighton doubts is that Chelle’s Super Eagles depth remains strong even without Yohanna and Azeez.

Ademola Lookman, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon and Philip Otele can cover both flanks across the AFCON qualifiers, and the Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau fixtures do not require Chelle to gamble on rushed returns from marginal-fitness players.

Yohanna and Azeez should both be formally withdrawn from the Super Eagles September selection, given time to establish their Brighton fitness across the international break, and then integrated into the next International break on the back of club match rhythm and fitness.