For the first time in the history of Nigeria U17 teams two players born outside the shores of Nigeria have made the squad for the 2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations , which serves as qualifiers for the World Youth Championship.
Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered that Chelsea teen forward Adrian Akande and young Bournemouth goalkeeper Joseph Oluwabusola made the final list of 23 players selected for the tournament by coach Manu Garba.
Oluwabusola is not new to the team as he was part of the team to the WAFU B U17 Championship which Nigeria won to seal progress to the Africa U17 Cup of Nations but he could easily have missed out on the list of players to the tournament if not for the fact that first choice goalkeeper John Amah failed the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging test, which is usually done to curb the menace of age cheats.
Akande on his part impressed the handlers of the team after training with the team for one week in Abuja and the omission of some forward players who are regulars in the team due to the MRI test helped his inclusion in the final squad for the tournament which will begin on the 14th of April in Tanzania.
Overall four players born outside the shores of Nigeria took part in the screening exercise in Abuja but the duo of former Barcelona Escola Kelechi Ebenezer Ibe-Torti and Go Ahead Eagles Lateef Omidiji Junior were not considered good enough for the Nigerian team.
