Arsenal of England rave-of-the-moment, Bukayo Saka is again in the news regarding a long-standing tussle over his international future, as several news bulletins across Europe have indicated that he could get an official invitation from Nigeria as early as September.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, although international football matches of all dimensions are still on hold, on account of the persistent coronavirus pandemic, the report out of England indicates that Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) plan on moving very fast to finally hook Saka once the restart of action is approved by governing bodies of the game in Africa and the world.
Saka is already an England under-19 international and has strong prospects of following the footsteps of Chelsea’s duo of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori as the next Nigerian-born player to star for The Three Lions at full senior level, but the NFF apparently do not want to see that happen.
That forms the basis of the report by British tabloid, Daily Mail, which reported on Thursday that Nigeria’s football officials are accelerating plans to snatch Saka from under the nose of England, as the NFF aim to formally invite the Arsenal youngster for the next lap of national team games.
The move by the NFF to spur Saka into snubbing The Three Lions for the Super Eagles is aptly on account of the fact that the Arsenal youngster has had an excellent breakthrough season at the London-based club, where he was earlier this week promoted to The Gunners’ first team and will move up from jersey number 77 up to 7 for next season.
The new number Saka will don for the next campaign has been worn in the past for Arsenal by Alexis Sánchez, Tomas Rosicky, Robert Pirès, David Platt, Ray Parlour and Anders Limpar but has been vacant since Henrikh Mkhitaryan left it behind when he moved to AS Roma of Italy on loan and the Armenian star is not expected to return to reclaim it next term.
Though Saka will still wear jersey number 77 when the EPL season comes to an expectedly dicey conclusion on Sunday, as well as for the FA Cup final against Chelsea on August 1, the 18-year-old winger-cum-left-back will step out in his new figure for pre-season friendlies.
That would then set the stage for the final onslaught for the international future of the dark-skinned lad, who is fast emerging as a very strong contender to break into Gareth Southgate’s England squad following a string of excellent displays for his club.
The snag for England, though, is that they plan to first blood him at the under-21 level, while the NFF are prepared to fast-track the left-footed utility player into the Eagles’ senior set-up in order to persuade him to commit his international career to his father’s country.
Daily Mail added in their report: “Their ploy to tempt Saka has taken a back seat in recent weeks owing to the long delay in international football due to coronavirus. But, with national team matches due to return in September, the Nigeria Football Federation will ramp up their efforts, with Saka still to make a final decision.
“In recent years, Nigeria have successfully persuaded Alex Iwobi, Ola Aina and Victor Moses to switch allegiance from England. However, they failed in their bid to entice Chelsea pair Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori earlier this season after both players committed their international futures to England.”
Tribalfootball also wrote: “Nigeria are working hard to convince Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka to commit his future to them. The 18-year-old is a key talent for the Gunners, and could opt to play for England.
“He plays left wing and left back, Nigeria hope to convince him to pick them for his international career. While England would likely give him an under-21 spot, Nigeria may push him up to the senior team as an incentive. It is unclear if the player has a preference.”
