Ajax of Holland striker, Chuba Akpom has restated his long-standing ambition of playing for Nigeria’s senior national team, Super Eagles, sports247.ng reports.
Although he made some marks while playing for Arsenal and Middlesbrough of England, then starred for the country of his birth at youth level, Akpom pointed out that he stated his allegiance to Nigeria six years ago.
Akpom then wondered why he has not been called up by Nigeria ever since, but the in-form hitman, who scored during Ajax’s 2-1 win over Galatasaray in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, conceded that it might be due to the presence of several reliable strikers in the Eagles’ current squad.
He added, “Maybe there are a lot of good strikers already. But, for the nation to progress, it has to be on merit. So, other players who are performing well need to be selected.
“That’s why I try to give 100%, and I’ve been waiting since 2019. I switched allegiance a long time ago, but I’ll keep waiting and hoping. If it happens, it happens. I’ll just keep working hard.”
Akpom continued by faulting arguments that players born in England only switch allegiance to Nigeria when they cannot meet up to the demands of their country of birth or when they are rejected by The Three Lions’ selectors.
The round-faced attacker noted, “For all the young English players, when you grow up in England, you have the opportunity of playing for their under-16s, under-17s, under-18s, under-19s, all the way up to under-21s; but you never have the chance of playing for Nigeria at that same level.
“It’s not until you break into the first team of your club that Nigeria will come over and say play for us. So, it’s not that we can’t play for England that makes us switch to Nigeria; it’s just that we haven’t had the opportunity of playing for Nigeria at a young age.
“It’s just because they play in England and play for England at the youth level all the way up. When you are already in the England system, playing for under-16s, under-17s in tournaments, and others, that’s all you know.”
He then reiterated his desire to play for the Super Eagles, stressing that the Nigerian blood running through his veins makes him determined to don the nation’s green-and-white jersey, then go on to record many historic moments with it.
“As a Nigerian boy, I’ll love to play for Nigeria, but I’ve just not had that chance, because I’ve never been approached. I was not even approached by Nigeria when I was young.
When you get older, you start to realise that it’s difficult to play for England. But it doesn’t mean you are jumping ship. You just haven’t been approached.
“That’s the case for many players born in England. But I feel that the better and greater number of talents the country has, the stronger the team is. When you put that Nigerian shirt on, nobody cares about your past. That naija blood is strong. You can’t run away from it,” Akpom submitted.
