The international future of on loan Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun is still up the air after rejecting a chance to be a part of the senior national team of Nigeria for the AFCON qualifiers, OGN can exclusively reveal.
Balogun has impressed in French Ligue 1 this season, where he is on loan to Reims with 15 goals in 25 games for the high flying team, who are one of the surprise team of the season in France this year.
21 year old Balogun is an England U21 player but he is eligible for Nigeria and the United States of America as he is yet to be cap tied with no senior national team cap for England at any competitive level.
While the United States of America have been keeping a close eye on his performance, it was the senior national team of Nigeria who first made the move to cap him at senior level with head coach Jose Peseiro holding talks with him.
Peseiro told him of his immediate plans to have him in the team for the AFCON qualifiers provided the switch of allegiance process is completed but he rejected the option saying it’s too early to consider a switch.
He is for now happy to represent England with the hope of making progress to the senior team after progressing from the youth ranks, but he hasn’t totally shut down the option of playing for Nigeria or the USA in the future.
Daniel Martins