ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Super Eagles chief scout Tunde Adelakun has revealed that world football governing body is yet to clear the duo of Ovie Ejaria and Ademola Lookman to play for Nigeria.
Former Arsenal schoolboy Ejaria and ex-Charlton Athletic dazzler Lookman are dual citizens of Nigeria and England.
However, they were required to submit an application for a change of association after pledging their international futures to Nigeria because they represented their country of birth, England in official competitions at youth level.
Ejaria trained with Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets prior to the U17 World Cup but was not considered for the finalized roster because he was not physically developed enough.
When asked to confirm whether FIFA had cleared Ejaria and Lookman, Adelakun said: “Fifa has not cleared the two players to play for Nigeria”.
Lookman spent the 2020-2021 season on loan at Fulham, where he registered four goals and four assists in 34 Premier League games, while Reading’s Ejaria directly participated in eight goals from 38 matches in the Championship.
However, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are still working behind the scenes to process the nationality switch of the duo.
Viral reports in the Nigerian press had erroneously claimed, citing unverifiable sources, that football’s world governing body had given the green light to the Reading midfielder and RB Lepizig winger to play for the Super Eagles.
