Nigeria has been given the chance to add another promising player born abroad to the current team of the senior national team under the guidance of Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro.
Peseiro’s predecessor Gernot Rohr was very active and also successful in convincing players of Nigerian descent and that appears to have set the trend for the new man to build on going forward.
It is on that note that England U21 forward Folarin Balogun who is on loan to French Ligue 1 side Reims from Arsenal is open to the idea of playing for Nigeria, but said he hasn’t been approached yet.
“I haven’t heard anything from Nigeria, but I’m open to anything because Nigeria is very close to my heart,” he told BBC Sport Africa according to a report by Oluwashina Okeleji.
“My family’s from there. I always have love for Nigeria. That’s a conversation that I need to have with people around me, my agent and obviously my family,” added Balogun.
“But if I was asked about the opportunity to play for Nigeria, then I can have that conversation. But first I need to be asked”, he rounded up saying.
This season he has scored seven goals in 12 games to lie in joint fifth in Ligue 1’s top scorers’ list, behind the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar of Paris St-Germain. Aside from Nigeria and England, Balogun is also eligible to represent the United States of America as he was born there.