Although Tammy Abraham is still undecided on who to play for between Nigeria and England, Super Eagles manager has Gernot Rohr has been given a huge boost after former Arsenal star, Chuba Akpom declared his intention to play for Nigeria.
The 23-year-old born in Canning Town, London, to Nigerian parents, is eligible to play for the Three Lions whom he has played for at youth levels.
However, he has not featured for the senior team and has now switched his allegiance to the Nigerian national team. Akpom had already trained with the Super Eagles in the past but has not featured for the team.
In an interview with BBC Sport, the PAOK FC star said only paperwork is what his delaying from playing for the Super Eagles, but he hopes it will be done soon.
“I’ve only just recently switched my allegiance, so I’ve signed the documents and hopefully in the next few weeks it will be approved to enable me play for Nigeria,” Akpom said.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for many years now but not many people know this. It’s just been a matter of sorting it out, which is now in a process. I’m looking forward to it.
“It was a personal decision. I’m Nigerian and my whole family feel very Nigerian and it will be nice to represent Nigeria.
The former Brighton and Hove Albion star also said he can’t wait to link up with Alex Iwobi again who he played with at Arsenal.
“It will also be nice to link up with Alex [Iwobi] again and play for the national team. We started playing when we was younger together and to make that step to play for the national team together will be amazing.”
“I wasn’t surprised because at the time he wasn’t playing for England, he came out of nowhere and he started playing for Arsenal and from there he just progressed, so I wasn’t surprised when he picked to play for Nigeria,” said Akpom.
“It was the better decision to make, now he’s played in the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. I’ve always said that I’d like to play with him again for Nigeria, we’ve always spoke about that.
“We’ve played together since we was five and six years old, we grew up together. It took me a while to settle down and to get used to the environment in Greece.
“Going to play abroad and in another league has helped me, but I hope to take my career to the next level with Nigeria.”
