NIGERIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION chief Amaju Pinnick said on Wednesday he has had “a positive meeting” with Tammy Abraham as he tries to persuade the England Under-21 starlet to switch allegiance to the Super Eagles.
Pinnick told AFP he had met with the striker, whose full name is Kevin Oghenetega Tamaraebi Bakumo-Abraham, and his father over the matter.
“I was with Tammy Abraham and his father in London last week and our meeting was positive,” Pinnick said.
They have collected the forms and just the way we followed up with that of Ola Aina we would do same with Tammy.
“I can tell you that his parents are excited about the prospect of the young lad playing for Nigeria,” he said.
But we have to be patient because we have seen with the case of Ola Aina that the process is not automatic.”
19-year-old forward Abraham, who is on loan from Chelsea to Swansea City, is one of the many British-born Nigerian players the NFF have been trying to persuade to switch allegiance to Nigeria.
He has featured for England Under-21s and made five appearances for Swansea in the Premier League this season, scoring one goal.
Defender Aina, currently on loan to Hull City from Chelsea, has represented England at youth level but was this month cleared by FIFA to play for Nigeria.
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Good article, thanks Garry. Besides the strength in depth and consistently good results, the pleasing thing for me is the style of play. They get the ball out wide quickly and into the hands of Balaucoune, Stockdale and Lowry etc. Burns is underrated outside Ulster, he plays a massive role in launching the attacks. As for the Ireland call ups, I’ll say nothing.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: I’m happy seeing Burns stay at Kingspan. Every player we send to an extended squad session in Dublin seems to come back injured. Bobby B is the latest.
@Trevor Johnston: the 2017 game in which Zebre beat Ulster was a strange game. Ulster played almost the whole game with 14 players and had a couple of tries disallowed.
@Trevor Johnston: The downside of Ulster players being overlooked by Ireland is that the likes of Cooney might be tempted by a payday in France. McCloskey would be in demand over there too.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: That’s the danger. If JC goes to France I would fully support him. He has been a great servant of the Ulster Rugby and certainly owes nothing to the IRFU.
@Trevor Johnston: 100% agree regarding Cooney. Anyway lads pretty certain that our big name signing for after the WC is PSDT, now that is an exciting addition.
@Kingshu: on top of Kitshoff?
@Patrick Breen: yeah Kitshoff wasnt the big name signing another one in lock/backrow was rumoured to be it.
@Patrick Breen: Vermuen and Carter’s replacements apparently.
@Trevor Johnston: in squad strength terms DV replaced by PSDT, Carter replaced by Roux, and Kitschoff a bonus.
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@Niall Daly: two points well made.