Arsenal of England youngster, Bukayo Saka appears on a collision course with one of The Gunners’ legends, Ian Wright, as the Nigerian-born lad says he cannot rule himself out of playing for the Super Eagles in future.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, while Wright declared emphatically that it would be a shame seeing Saka play for Nigeria instead of England, where he was born and was groomed in the round leather game, the fast-rising left-wing-back says it is not a straightforward issue, as the ex-player is painting.
Saka would rather keep his options open for much longer, but Wright stressed that England’s football authorities should do all they can to ensure the dark-skinned left-footed teenager plays for The Three Lions, and not Nigeria’s Super Eagles.
Saka has emerged a revelation at Arsenal this season, with his performances and assists, despite playing at left back, as opposed to his main role as a winger, which Wright believes has made him good enough for a senior England cap, at least if only to keep Nigeria away.
Wright said: “There are various reasons why players are called up to the senior national team and one of them is present form and base on it Saka has no doubt put himself in the frame for a call up to the senior English team.
“There are players ahead of him at the moment but he deserves to be given a look in. It will no doubt hurt a lot if he plays for Nigeria because he looks like a real prospect who has progressed brilliantly through the ranks. It won’t be right if he plays for England instead of Nigeria. He is a potential that will help the English team now and in the future.”
However, Saka appears not in any hurry to decide his international future, as he revealed some level of nostalgia for Nigeria, based on a visit he once had to the country of his parents, and the Arsenal teenager admits he owes so form of allegiance to the West African nation.
Despite his emotions for Nigeria, though, Saka is already an England youth international, having earlier played for the country’s under-16, -17 and -18 teams, before he was promoted to the U19 squad, for which he has scored four goals and provided three assists in ten games.
Having also played for The Young Lions at the 2018 European U17 Championship, where he started all their five matches as they reached the semi-finals, Saka appears closer to England than Nigeria, but the youngster says a visit he once paid to his fatherland means he could one day decide to pledge his international future to the Super Eagles.
Saka said: “I was lucky enough to travel a lot when I was younger. Every year my mum and dad would take us away. We went to Nigeria of course, where my mum and dad are both from. I still live with my parents, but we’ve moved away from Greenford now, closer to the training ground, and my brother has moved to Reading to go to university.”
