Categories: NewsNewsNowNigeria

Werder Bremen star reveals why he initially snubbed Nigeria for Germany as he makes a u-turn

The three-time African champions could add another German-born player to their squad after a former Die Mannschaft U21 star declared his readiness to play for Gernot Rohr’s team 

Werder Bremen star Felix Agu has said he rejected the chance to play for Nigeria to focus on his development with Germany’s U21.

Agu was born in Osnabrück, Germany, but qualified to represent Nigeria through his parents. The 22-year-old has now confirmed that he was indeed approached by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over a potential switch, but he was focused on Germany’s youth team then.

“At that time, I cancelled the Nigerian Association because I wanted to go to the German U21s first,” Agu told deichstube. 

“Up until then, I had never been to the national team, and I wanted to get used to it.”

However, the 22-year-old right-back has now said he is open to representing the three-time African champions, now that his time with the German u21 team is over.

Agu revealed his decision to snub the first approach from the NFF was not against Nigeria, as he only chose Germany because he was familiar with the environment.

“I haven’t heard anything for a long time. Maybe it will come again.”

“But it wasn’t a decision against Nigeria. It was a decision to keep my surroundings that are more or less familiar.

“Now I am open to the topic,” Agu concluded.

Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr will be willing to call up Agu. The 22-year-old has made 12 appearances for Werder Bremen in Bundesliga 2 this season, contributing two assists.

This post was last modified on December 10, 2021 2:03 pm

Joba Ogunwale

Oluwajoba Ogunwale has many years of experience as a sports content writer. The most recent of these was at Opera News, after which he took up the role of Editor-in-Chief at Soccernet.

View Comments

  • It was a very right and smart decision for him then, any young player must focused on his career first else Nigerian system will kill his career before it takes off.

  • Lols. Once they discover they're not good enough for their country of choice they then "decide" to make a U-turn.
    Since Nigeria started focusing on foreign-born and foreign based players we've not been doing well.
    All the trophies we've won were with "local" players who grew up playing the Nigerian way, but somehow we insist on foreign based players. Who dis guy wan bench for Enyimba?

  • Guys the problem is not about getting this foreign base players to play for us. The problem is NPFL isnt working, we need to fix that first. Then we can pick the best from there, even when we do, they still want to go for greener pastures making them foreign based next time. So the trend continues as New players from the local league will have to be called up and then same thing happens they get exposed and worked their way to foreign leagues.

    Where is the continuity??

    is it not better we stick to the foreign ones who are making names for themselves??

    They might not be good enough for their country of birth due to high level of competition in the team, could also be for other reasons , but that doesnt make them bad player's or not good enough players.

    In 2013 CAF victor moses was our best player, he grew up in UK and could have played for England but didnt make the cut yet was good enough for our team. So lets just keep getting the best from anywhere home or abroad no problem.

    In conclusion, the major problem is not the players is the Coach right now, we need a good young coach Home grown or abroad.

    Our Eagles need wings to fly!!

    • I totally concur with your argument. We need a better coach and we must play to our strength and that is Eagles play from the wings.
      This coach and NFF are not interested in our football, they just want to make money for themselves.

    • You may delete the App on your device and download the Soccernet.ng App again.
      It is available for free on Google Play Store.

      Thank you for choosing Soccernet, sir.

  • These foreign players are not Nigerian groomed. They don't have the mentality of Nigerian players. Victor Moses learned his football in Nigeria not England. He had the mental thoughness of the home grown player. Lets go back to the basics like Brazil and groom our talents at home before we set them loose in Europe. When they come back they would have blended the discipline of Europe with their Nigerian mental thoughness and creativity. Okocha, Keanu etc did not develop their talents in Europe, they were Nigerian made.

  • The palooka's we have in the Super Eagles team this time around are all bunch of loosers.infact they're all professionals for mouth.they do not attack to talk of scoring and is high time the coach start injecting home base players into the team..

  • Local or home based players that can't even qualify for the group stages of CAF club competitions these days.....
    Are they the same people we are clamouring to out in our national team?

Share
Published by
Joba Ogunwale

Recent Posts

“€7m, more or less” – LOSC Lille President reveals shocking financial details of Osimhen’s move to Napoli

The president of French Ligue 1 side-LOSC Lille, Olivier Létang, has revealed some shocking details… Read More

12 minutes ago

Official: Nigerian youngster David Moses joins Slavia Prague inspired by Super Eagles star

Slavia Prague have officially signed 20-year-old Nigerian midfielder David Moses from fellow Czech club MFK… Read More

29 minutes ago

Ademola Lookman hits career-high N90b valuation, rivals Osimhen as Nigeria’s most valuable star

Ademola Lookman has reached a new milestone in his career, with his market value surging… Read More

2 hours ago

“The environment”- Ademola Lookman reveals vital catalysts in CAF POTY success

Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman has stated that joining Atalanta in 2022 played a big… Read More

6 hours ago

‘We call it slot’ – Pinnick on his role in Musa’s 2018 World Cup heroics

Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick, has revealed the pivotal role he played… Read More

10 hours ago