Nigeria coach Augustine Eguavoen has hit out at Watford for blocking Emmanuel Dennis' call to their AFCON squad.

It's been claimed Nigeria failed to submit paperwork in time for the striker's selection and so Watford were able to deny his call-up.

Eguavoen said: "We tried to reach out to the club but the club was like: 'No, we will not allow Dennis to go'.

"Dennis also told me that his club had done everything humanly possible for him not be at the AFCON.

"I can't force it, I reported the matter to the authority and they also tried. That was why we had to wait until the last second before we pushed the button.

"Dennis said he wants to come but the club are threatening him, let me use the word, threatening him.

"What do we do if a player does not want to come? What are you going to do? We have to play with what we have."