Super Eagles and Fulham midfield star Alex Iwobi was left surprised when he was told that Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones is eligible to play for the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Iwobi who was ever present for the Super Eagles during the AFCON where they went all the way to the final before losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire was seen gave the reaction in a viral video making the rounds on social media.
A video of the 27 year old in a hair salon having some conversation about the trend of players born in the UK switching to play for Nigeria surfaced online, and in it hw spoke about his experience when he first came to the team.
” So yeah when I first came, I was literally the only one innit. I wanted to say I was the first but there was Carl Ikeme, the Wolves goalkeeper but it was literally just me. I was on my own but I was Okocha’s nephew, it kinda helped. All of them were like ah this is Okocha’s pikin (child). I just had to adapt but I was on my own innit”, he said.
” But when I started, obviously I started it bare UK man started coming in more or less innit. But at the same time for example William Troost-Ekong he is not fully Nigerian, he is from Holland and then there was Leon Balogun who is from Germany. So I was with them man. But then now bare UK man.
“Do you feel like we are going to see more UK man in the team? He was asked.
“Yeah” he replied. ” You always get people like I didn’t know Curtis Jones has Nigerian roots”, another voice in the video said. ” Does he?”, Iwobi asked with suprise written all over his face.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman