Wolverhampton Wanderers of England attacker, Bright Enobakhare is set to land at the Nigerian under-23 national team, Olympic Eagles’ camp in Abuja, after accepting an invitation extended to him by the coach, Imama Amapakabo, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although Enobakhare’s call-up is late and only came as second thought, with the power-playing striker invited in place of Racing Genk of Belgium youngster, Stephen Odey, whose club refused to let him go, the new invitee is set to make the best o of his opportunity.
It means Enobakhare has accepted switching allegiance from England and officially commit his international future to Nigeria, as he is now on course to make the Olympic Eagles’ squad to Egypt for the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.
This comes after his parent club, Wolves agreed with the team he is playing for on loan, Wigan Athletic, to release him for the championship, which stands as Africa’s qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, despite it not being in FIFA’s international calendar.
Amapakabo has already included Enobakhare’s name in his provisional list for the championship, for which he has tentatively penciled nine foreign-based players, and the barging lad, who made his senior debut for Wolves at 17, is expected to make the final cut to The Land of The Pharaohs.
Since breaking into Wolves’ main team, though, Enobakhare has found it difficult to secure a spot in Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad which made him leave Molineux Stadium for his third loan spell, as news emerged on August 8 that the 21-year-old attacker will spend the season on loan in the English Championship with Wigan, after completing a switch to DW Stadium
This comes after Enobakhare started the 2018/19 season in the Scottish Premier League with Kilmarnock, but ended the campaign at Coventry City after again struggling to get regular playing time, but during his stint in the League One side, he scored six goals in 18 matches and was later named The Sky Blues’ Young Player of the Year.
The Benin City-born lad moved to Birmingham at 15 and, soon after his arrival in England, he started playing for Northfield Town Juniors, where he was part of the team who won the Minor Cup in 2014, scoring two goals to help his team beat Rugby Town 3–1 at Villa Park.
He then had trials at several clubs before joining Wolves’ academy system and signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2015 to set his career on a bright part in Queensland, where he is still eligible to play for their national teams, having spent more than five years in the country, but he has now opted to commit his international future to Nigeria.
Enobakhare’s arrival at Amapakabo’s camp in Abuja comes after the advent of Huesca of Spain midfielder, Kelechi Nwakali, Watford midfielder, Tom Dele-Bashiru and Montreal Impact of Canada winger, Orji Okonkwo, who is still registered with Bologna of Italy.
The Olympic Eagles are expected to the leave for Egypt on Thursday, given them a week to train and settle down before the tournament, which holds from 8th to 22nd November in Cairo, with Nigeria playing in Group B, which also has Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa.
