Lookman not ripe for Eagles – Sofoluwe

Former Eagles defender, Yisa Sofoluwe has kicked against the move by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to convince Everton teenage striker, Ademola Lookman to play for the Super Eagles.

Lookman shot into the limelight this month, when he scored just moments into his Premier League debut against Manchester City at Goodison Park. The former Charlton youngster, who signed a£7.5m deal with the Tofees, only came onto the pitch in the 90th minute, replacing Ross Barkley with The Toffees 3-0 up.

Incredibly, he scored with just his second touch, just under four minutes after coming off the bench.

It was a great start to his  Premier League career, which got top officials of the NFF jumping at the prospects of having him play for the Super Eagles. This is despite the reluctance of Lookman to play for Nigeria, opting to star for the Three Lions.

Technical Director of the NFF, Bitrus Bewarang had told the BBC that,  “we’ve managed to get players like Moses and Iwobi in the past and Lookman would be agreat addition to the national team if we got him.

“We have a young side, the new coach is building a strong squad and having some youngsters from the Premier League [Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi] could help his decision,’’said Bewarang.

But  reacting to NFF’s stance, Sofoluwe has said it was not proper to beg players to play for the national team.

Recalling how players scrambled to fight for Eagles shirts during their time, Sofoluwe said  the NFF was setting a wrong precedent by begging players to play for Eagles.

During our time, no one begged us to play for the national team. It was a thing of pride and joy to wear the jersey of the Eagles and I believe that it should still be the same today.