The quest to have more Nigerian players born abroad to pledge their allegiance to the senior national team of Nigeria continued over the weekend as talks were held with five players, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Austine Eguavoen was in England and saw the game between Crystal Palace and Fulham at Selhurt Park. He was there on the invitation of England youth international Tosin Adarabiyio.
Adarabiyio has represented England at several youth levels but he is now keen on switching to Nigeria but he wasn’t the only player who had talks with Eguavoen per what we exclusively gathered.
At Fulham, Adarabiyio’s teammate Josh Onomah also met with the NFF chief after the game. He has also represented England at various youth levels and was a part of the U17 World Cup winning team. Eguavoen also met with Ebere Eze.
Nigeria have courted Eze for two years with former coach Gernot Rohr terming him a special player. It is believed that he will consider the option of shunning England for the Super Eagles if he fails to make the squad for the next European Championship in 2024.
Also contacted at Crystal Palace was Malcolm Eboiwei, the nephew of Super Eagles coach Austine Eguavoen. He trained with the 2019 Nigeria U17 team but didn’t make the squad for the world cup. His remarkable growth in between the years has landed him at the top league in England.
Eboiwei is seen as one of the brightest prospects at the club and he has already played for the first team in top flight games. Eguavoen however has his eyes on another talent in Tayo Adaramola who is a left full back.
Adaramola is presently an international for the Republic of Ireland at U21 level after rising through the ranks from U17 level. At Palace he is yet to make his first team debut but he is highly rated at the club.
We also gathered that Eguavoen didn’t make any attempts to speak with Michael Olise, who was once invited by former coach Rohr as he has made it clear that his intention is to build his international career with the French national team, where he is a player of the U21 team. Olise is also eligible for Algeria.
