Arsenal of England wonderkid, Bukayo Saka has again admitted he is facing a daunting task and tough decision in arriving at a choice between the nation of his birth and his father’s country for his senior national team allegiance, megasportsarena.com gathered.
Although he is currently an under-19 international with England, pressure has been mounting on Saka to switch allegiance to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, where many pundits believe he would have better options in the long-term future, but the dark-skinned lad has posited that it is not such a straightforward issue.
The 18-year-old Saka disclosed that he holds a soft-spot for Nigeria, due to influences from his parent but, considering that he has donned England’s colours at youth level, he conceded that he is faced with a tough decision over which national team to represent in future.
He still qualifies to play for the Super Eagles through his parents and for The Three Lions by birth, but one advantage Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have in luring him to make a switch is that the lad’s agent is from their country.
Sky Sports reports that Saka is represented by a Nigerian players’ agent, Emeka Obasi, who also holds deals for four other England-born youngsters – Joe Aribo, Ola Aina, Josh Maja and Chuba Akpom – that have all pledged their national team futures to donning the Eagles’ jersey.
In addition, Obasi’s former client, RB Leipzig of Germany winger, Ademola Lookman, who was in England’s 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup-winning squad, has also applied for a change of nationality, while another one of his wards, Malcolm Ebiowei of Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, also accepted a change in allegiance and made Nigeria’s provisional list for the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup.
Another high-profile client of Obasi’s is Everton’s Alex Iwobi, who also previously starred for Arsenal and England’s youth national teams, only to snub overtures of stepping up to The Three Lions and opted to commit his international future to the Super Eagles, with which he has since featured at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and won bronze at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
All these examples appear to weigh strongly on the mind of Saka, but his dilemma would surely be heightened by the fact that four other Nigerian-born players – Dele Alli, Tammy Abraham, Ross Barkley and Fikayo Tomori – are waxing strong after snubbing overtures from the NFF.
All four continue growing through the ranks of England’s senior squad, after rejecting Nigeria in preference for international futures with The Three Lions; such that Saka equally has some of his close pals to look up to on the other side, and The Gunners’ youngster admits he cannot rush into making a final decision on the issue at hand.
Saka told Sky Sports: “It’s a tough choice. I’m happy to have represented England at youth level but I’m also proud of my Nigerian heritage from my parents. We haven’t been picked by any team so it’s about staying humble and when the time comes we’ll make the decision.”
