President of Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, says there is nothing strange with the decision of several foreign-born players of Nigerian descent in turning down the Super Eagles.
Speaking on Plus TV Africa, Pinnick described Chelsea stars Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori’s rejection of Nigeria as a non-issue.
Pinnick had attempted to convince Abraham and Tomori to pledge their international futures to Nigeria before they became cap-tied to the Three Lions after featuring in competitive games against Czech Republic and Kosovo respectively in 2019.
“I don’t believe that’s an issue, you have a choice, it’s not just today, at a point John Fashanu refused to play for Nigeria, I was still in secondary school if not primary school,” said Pinnick.
“We are all human beings, we are subjected to the various choices that we make, so to me it’s their choice.
“I’m very close to Tammy Abraham’s father, we grew up together, I’ve known him for over 40 years.
“I know the history of Tammy but if at the end of the day he decides to play for England we just wish him only good luck, Tomori too we wish him good luck.”
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“Let us watch and see the future of these players, we are happy and very contented with what we have right now, the only thing we need to do is consolidate and build a very strong Super Eagles that can contest for the qualifying rounds and World Cup proper, we have a very young team.”
Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli and Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley are the other players in the England squad that were eligible to represent Nigeria before playing cap-tying games.