Dele-Bashiru Pledges Commitment To Amapakabo’s Tokyo 2020 Target

Watford of England midfielder, Tom Dele-Bashiru has declared total commitment to the quest of Nigeria’s under-23 national team, Olympic Eagles, as he says he will not allow commitments at his club prevent him from honouring the nation’s call to duty, megasportsarena.com reports.

Speaking on arrival at the team’s camp in Abuja, alongside Montreal Impact of Canada winger, Orji Okonkwo, the ex-Manchester City of England fringe player declared that he wants to do everything that will help Coach Imama Amapakabo’s squad retain the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations next month in Egypt.

The England-born youngster, who committed his allegiance to Nigeria just in time to make the Flying Eagles’ roster for this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup earlier in the summer, stressed that he is Amapakabo’s camp with a mission to prove himself and make the final squad list to Egypt 2019.

The 20 –year-old Dele-Bashiru, who scored Nigeria’s third goal as the Flying Eagles obliterated Qatar 4-0 in their opening game of the Youth Mundial Poland, will now aim to cement his place in the under-23 squad alongside Huesca of Spain midfielder, Kelechi Nwakali, who captained the Golden Eaglets to FIFA U-17 World Cup glory in Chile four years ago.

Nwakali earlier joined Amapakabo’s camp last week, as he returned to the squad he helped to secure victories over Libya and Sudan in the qualifiers to earn Nigeria a berth in Egypt, where he could be joined by fellow-Chile 2015 gold medalist, Okonkwo, who plays for Montreal Impact in USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS), while Germany-based Taiwo Awoniyi is also being expected.

Similarly, Russia-based Olabiran Blessing Muyiwa, after the 21-year-old midfielder, who starred for Amapakabo’s side during the qualifiers for Egypt 2019, was an unused sub in Tambov’s 3-0 win over UFA on Saturday, and will now hope to make an impact in Egypt; just as will Bright Enobakhare from Wolverhampton Wanderers of England, who replaces Genks’ Stephen Odey.

In the meantime, Okonkwo, Nwakali and Dele-Bashiru are leading the overseas-based lads in training with others at Amapakabo’s camp, ahead of Thursday’s departure to Egypt, where the Olympic Eagles are expected to defend their trophy from November 8th to 22nd, starting in Group B alongside Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa.

While pledging total commitment to Amapakabo’s cause, Dele-Bashiru, who had previously played for England’s under-16 national team, used the opportunity to restate his allegiance to Nigeria, and admitted that his target is set fully of eventually lining out for the Super Eagles.

Dele-Bashiru stressed: “I am very proud of my roots, I try and embrace it. I paint a good picture so that people understand what it is to be a Nigerian. It is my home nation so it was good to play for them. I just felt like I’ll probably play for the first team with the Super Eagles, more likely than playing for England because England have a lot of players to choose from.”