Ademola Lookman, two others switch allegiance to Super Eagles
NFF set to make final decision regarding switches
As earlier hinted by the NFF president Amaju Pinnick, Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman has completed the process of switching his international allegiance from England to Nigeria with football’s governing body FIFA.
Having previously represented England at age-grade level, Ademola Lookman has finally consented to play for his country of origin. The 23-year-old was part of the Young Lions U-20 set-up that won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2017 alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Dean Henderson, and a number of others.
Lookman was revealed to have completed his application to switch his allegiance to the Super Eagles for a couple of months now, with the final decision on whether to fast track his application or not now left in the hands of Nigerian football’s governing body, NFF.
Lookman was previously approached on three separate occasions to declare his international future for Nigeria, but the then-teenager turned down all three attempts in the space of a year, despite meeting with Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr and the NFF president Amaju Pinnick.
Like Ademola Lookman, a number of UK-based stars are also awaiting a speedy clearance by the NFF to allow them to be available to play for the Super Eagles. Among them are Reading FC midfielder Ovie Ejaria and Millwall FC winger Sheyi Ojo, both of whom came through the youth ranks at Liverpool and played alongside Lookman for England at the U-20 World Cup in 2017.
In addition to these three, KRC Genk striker Ike Ugbo has also declared his intention to play for the Super Eagles. The ex-Chelsea man stated that he was interested in playing for Nigeria and is prepared to grab any chances to wear the green and white of the Super Eagles. However, the 23-year-old has been swiftly snapped up by Canada and was named on the Canadian roster ahead of the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
The availability of these players for the Super Eagles gives the coach Gernot Rohr the ability to pick from a very deep squad and choose a side that would compete favourably on all fronts, especially with the 2021 AFCON only few weeks away.
