The international future of Russian-Nigerian left back Brian Idowu will take some time to be sorted out despite the efforts of coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr who has contacted the Amkar Perm man to pledge his allegiance to Nigeria.
Rohr handed Idowu a call up to the Nigerian team last year before the World Cup 2018 qualifiers clash against Algeria, but as exclusively reported by this football portal due to Russia’s law on immigration, there wasn’t enough time for the former Zenith St. Petersburg trainee to get his paper work in order to apply for dual citizenship.
His manager at Amkar Perm Gadzhi Gadzhiev confirmed the 24 year old was indeed called up to the senior national team of Nigeria, but he advised the utility player who can play as a left back, midfielder and winger not to commit to Nigeria yet.
” When Brian received the offer to play for Nigeria, he turned to me for advice. My position was simple. I recommend him to take time to develop his skills, to become better and stronger and hope that he’ll get the opportunity to play for the Russian national team. If that doesn’t happen , he can always come back and talk with the Nigerian national team”, Gadzhiev said.
However time is running out on Idowu who will be 26 in 2018 when Russia host the World Cup, and head coach of the national team of Russia Stanislav Cherchesov has not for once expressed any wish to keep Idowu from the grasp of Nigeria by calling him to the Russian team.
Osas Mahawi
