Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle is making good his promise to ensure that he gets the best available players with dual nationality play for his team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Chelle has been active in the area of bolstering his options especially with players born abroad to parents of Nigerian descent. Recently he capped the quartet of Arthur Okonkwo, Femi Azeez, Emmanuel Fernandez and Owen Oseni who were born abroad.
Two weeks ago we reported that he has successfully convinced Al Ittihad forward George Ilenikhena to pledge his international future to Nigeria. He has now shift his attention to new Galatasaray signing Lesley Ugochukwu.
Sources say he has now turned his sight on a young emerging talent from England, largely due to his dual role as the coach of the Nigeria U23 team.
The play is Sam Alabi, who only signed his first professional contract in July, but the 17-year-old has his sights set on a senior debut for Newcastle this season.
The dynamic midfielder was named on the bench on a handful of occasions in the previous campaign after fearlessly holding his own in training with the first team.
Alabi went on to suffer a season-ending shin injury in January, but former head coach Eddie Howe backed the teenager to have a bright future if he continued to work hard.
Although Newcastle have since spent £57m on a couple of young midfielders in Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba, Alabi is one to watch as someone who has already captained England at youth level.
