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Eze: I Can Still Play For Nigeria

Eze: I Can Still Play For Nigeria

Eberechi Eze says he is still open to playing for Nigeria but will not let a potential decision over his international future distract him from progressing.

Eze is currently on England U-21 duty, but he also qualifies for Nigeria through his parents and has trained with the Super Eagles in the past.

And the 22-year-old said right now he is fully focused with the England U-21.

“I can [still play for Nigeria],” Eze was quoted on Evening Standard.

“At the moment, I’m focused on my England Under-21 camp. I don’t want to put any type of pressure on myself and try to force anything now.

“I’m focused on the Under-21s, playing for the Under-21s, training, trying to play as many games as I can, and I think that’s the most important thing right now for my development.”

Eze has been eased into life as a Premier League player by Palace boss Roy Hodgson since his £19.5million move from QPR over the summer.

But, after he scored his first Palace goal in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Leeds, Eze says he is learning at a rapid rate under the veteran England coach.

“At Palace, I’m learning a lot every day,” he said. “You’re put into a position where you have to learn quickly. I feel like I’m doing that, not only from the manager but the players in the team.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity and I’m very grateful. Defensively I’m having to be a lot more aware and playing in two banks of four and being able to cope.

“As a player, that’s not always been in my game, but I’m learning and I’m picking it up.”


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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 45
  • This guy is playing games with us. We don’t want you again. Go to England.

  • It’s like the scale is starting to fall off his eyes late in the day. He must have analysed the current situations of others like Abraham, Tomori and Saka.

    Tomori has been cap-tied and frozen out. Abraham is only a bit-part player – good for 85th minute sub on. Saka should have seen the handwriting on the wall by now. I hope he can retrace his steps now too before Northgate throws him on in the 89th minute of a competitive match and ends it all for him – in terms of a fulfilling international career.

  • you never see something , your confusion is demonically inclined. Recieve insight for a brighter footballing future in the colours of the SE amen.

    • Baba na baba 3 years ago

      You will not keep quit now,be fore soutgate will cap u and end you like others.you people will never learn.is super eagles that bad,I always ask myself?are u guys too good, I always ask?that u can just come when u like?who amongs u can be sold for 70 million euros now?

  • Dr. Drey 3 years ago

    No…strap yourself to the England U21 bench at the age of 22 with a seat belt.

  • It is clear Eze is waiting for England National team to come calling first, which is sad. All the same it is his choice and, he will leave with whatever consequences come after either good or bad. But, judging by his talent he can definitely make it in England from what I have seen of him. either way wish the dude all the best

    • Ayphillydegreat 3 years ago

      How will he make it with England? When at 22 he’s still playing for England U21. To be honest his best bet is to play for Nigeria as that in itself will not be a walk in the park for him. To dislodge established players already in the team and doing well, But he will get a chance as he’s got the talent. With England he can only get one or two call up and that’s it for his international career. It’s better for him to decide now at 22 before it’s too late. If he doesn’t want to play for Nigeria I won’t miss his impact as much that of a talent like Bukayo Saka. Those are the kind of audacious talent I like to see in the SuperEagles. That’s why England wouldn’t want to lose a player like that. To be honest it’s a loss to Nigeria, but we have enough talent to cover that space. If the likes of Chukwueze, Ejuke, Kalu, Simon continues to progress and bond as a unit we have enough talent on our wings to hold our own against anyone on our day. 

      • “With England he can only get one or two call up and that’s it for his international career.”

        Yea but don’t you think those one or two callups will pay him than 50 callups with Super eagles. I once hate the fact that Akpoguma chose Nigeria when his plan A didn’t workout but the truth is that most of us here wouldn’t have planned otherwise if we were to be in their shoes, it’s just what it is, either ways they choose, wish them all the best and mind you, Eze has what it takes to earn himself reasonable numbers of callups from England if he eventually get the nod and keep developing and not dwindle.

        • Ayphillydegreat 3 years ago

          Bro’s I don’t have any issue Whatsoever with Eze if he Choose England over Nigeria. I do like him as a player and I can only wish him all the best. Don’t get me wrong I really feel he can add some depth to the SuperEagles if he chooses Nigeria. I do understand his predicament of being born and raised in a culture that is well organized and comfortable for them. However, as a professional it’s not like choosing Nigeria guarantees him a starting spot. I just feel he’s not getting younger for the 3 lions either. When the likes of Greenwood and Foden at much more younger age are commanding or competing for starters shirt he’s still playing U21 football at 22. I know for sure that we don’t beg anyone to play for the SuperEagles we can only persuade them and it’s up to them to decide. For me with the current state of the SuperEagles if I’m able to add a top talent to this team it will only be Bukayo Saka. As I think we need dynamism on the left flank. Obviously we’ve got quality in Sanusi adding Saka to that side of the ball and beyond will be absolutely vital, but we’ve lost him too so why would I worry about Eberechi Eze??? 

  • Don’t worry, we, as Naija fan can still love you wholeheartedly whenever you are ready to play for us but till then, we dislike you(your attitude towards our callings).
    This guy knows that by next year, hell be 23 and there won’t be any under age calls except to 3 lions which is not possible.

    • KangA 3 years ago

      “At the moment, I’m focused on my England Under-21 camp. I don’t want to put any type ……” Read: “I’m waiting for 3Ls.” A demonic excuse earlier given by A&T who now have very sore ar£e from bench warming duty. 

  • Kingston 3 years ago

    I really hope the best for eze. though, it’s disappointing that he’s let to understand the nature of national football.
    chances of tomori playing for England from now to he reach 24 is nigh impossible.
    we know England is a better team than Nigeria, no doubt. and it is the dream of every player to play at top level. but that should not block your sight from seeing reality. eze will bring depth to our squad, especially in the midfield.

  • Total rubbish! I wish NFF can just come up with a law or a statement that if a player is approached to play for the SE and he declines, the door will be closed on him permanently. This was the exact nonsense Tammy Abraham did, Eze want to use the SE to get the attention of eastgate, And also keeping the option of SE return opened in case he doesn’t get a call from England eventually. I hate it when some players takes the SE as a second option.

  • GLORY 3 years ago

    This statement by Eze gives him away as haven put NIGERIA as second choice. He is 22 and sooner or later won’t fit into thw English age group anymore. So then, if 3Lions don’t come with an invite, he then declares for Nigeria. How foolish of him to think he is wiser than ENGLAND and everyone. England will get him tied down soonest and just Continue with others they consider better than him.

    • Proudly 9ja 3 years ago

      We are too emotional, why insult the poor boy and others who do this? The truth is that 9ja will still continue to take this insults from dual citizen players until our government and NFF does the right thing by developing sports (soccer, basketball, sprinting etc) in the country. If Udokhai or Saka for example comes out and says they whave had a rethink and would now like to play for 9ja after declining previous approaches, we will be celebrating if we are truly honest with ourselves, our ogas at the NFF will still accept and say they have done something special. Most of us hauling insults at them will still celebrate. If we spend half the money countries like Germany, England, Spain, France even some African countries spend in developing their leagues, developing youth soccer and other areas in our country instead of their greed and corruption, do u all think we will be taking these insults. Its not as if the moni isn’t there to use to develop our sports and other infrastructures. Since we can’t see beyond our nose, we will still continue to be 2nd fiddle to these countries. There are millions of Sakas, Ezes, Udokhais wasting away in 9ja streets. We will still be taking these crap from these guys until the needful is done. Let’s face facts. Just my opinion

  • D-cardinal 3 years ago

    This what you get when you don’t develope your indigenous talents well..He is a Nigerian by Lineage but a British by birth.. England has more stake on him than we do because they gave him the platform that has put him in limelight today.. Hate him or not the truth still remains that everyone in this platform will do the same if in his shoes..play for Nigeria or not am his biggest fan becos the boy got talent.

    • Igbekun Abo 3 years ago

      Spot on D-cardinal. Your analysis shows that you know the workings of football.

    • Taiwo Irinoye 3 years ago

      Nigerians should stop obsessing with foreign born citizens. We had a very good team in the 90s without foreign born Nigerians. We have enough Human Resources in Nigeria to build a good Super eagles team. If our foreign born citizens decide to play for Super eagles, they are welcomed.

  • Ok o @D-Cardinal..warn your guy as you are his true fan to stop mocking us. Like he said in one interview that ‘he might have Regretted playing for Nigeria” Alaba plays for Austria and we still support him so he should mind himself

  • So the Super Eagles is now your rebound team, right!?

  • It’s better to keep quite and let pple wonder than to speak n clear their doubts in as much I try to be civil I can’t help it eze is d highest mumu
    in present day football history,naija gave u a chance to represent them at senior level but u refused choosing England under 21,now u said u are still developing @22 keep fooling yourself ok I rest my case

  • GLORY 3 years ago

    @ Proudly9ja, it’s really good to read people’s COMMENT and Understand before making conclusions. I didn’t insult Eze in my comment and will never do to any player simply because they turn down Nigeria chance. I only stated the obvious concerning Eze game plan. So please try not go whimsical when replying to other people’s post otherwise, you will be seen as whipping up unnecessary sentiment, maybe to gain cheap popularity which I am sure you are not.

    • Proudly 9ja 3 years ago

      @Glory, I was in no way referring to you bro. I was generalizing in my statement I will never single anyone here as we all have are different and unique views on things. I enjoy reading urs and many others comments here. Please don’t take it the wrong way, I wasn’t referring to you bro.

      • GLORY 3 years ago

        No worries @ Proudly9ja. I on same page with you regarding our home grown talents but the sad thing is, THE BIGGEST EVIL DESTROYING OUR FOOTBALL is GREED FROM SELF SERVING AGENTS LURKING AROUND EVERYWHERE. They have systematically destroyed our league to promote their selfish business of selling our talents abroad to all kinds of obscure leagues, wherein these young talent constantly fail to reach their full potentials.

  • Whenever you hear these dual nationality players telling Nigeria about focusing on their club careers….. just know that they prefer their alternative country. It is just like asking a girl to date you and she is suggesting frienship first.
    What we should understand is that, some of these boys are young and relatively inexperienced in life matters. Consequently, they have overly tall and unrealistic ambitions. That is why it is good to pay listening ears to people who are older because they are usually wiser and more experienced. After all, grey hair is not white paint.
    John Fashanu, Chinedum Onuoha and a host of others have been talking but these boys won’t listen. And Englandgate is not helping matters as he is busy cap-tying these ear less players even at 98mins of a competitive match. He is just securing them, not that he has any need of them now, but in case they are needed in the future.
    The truth is this, the earlier a player joins the Super Eagles, the faster he jells with the team. For instance, if somebody like Akpoguma had joined the Super Eagles about five years ago, who knows, by now he would have been one of the pillars of the team. So the earlier the better.
    Lastly, the NFF should develop a better strategy that would be more effective in convincing these players. We are actually losing more than we are gaining. NFF should use people with similar background with the prospects to engage them and do the leg work. Also, publicity should be totally avoided. Nobody is really interested in the process and the steps taken to convince a player. Until a player is successfully acquired, we don’t want to hear any news. This is because, some of these players use these news to get the attention of the coaches of their prefered team

  • pompei 3 years ago

    Hopefully, the NFF will keep working hard to make the SE brand very attractive. The starting point is investing in and developing our local league. If we had a strong profitable local league, we would have discovered a few Okochas, Kanus, Olisehs, etc by now. We would then be supplementing the SE selection pool with foreign based and foreign born talents, instead of being totally reliant on them as we are now!
    The other task for the NFF is PLAYER WELFARE. Do we have insurance to take care of players, in case they get injured in action for us? If we do, fantastic. If not, we need that asap. Not just health insurance, possibly insurance to cover lost income during the recovery period? Most players may be drawing a salary while injured, but the additional income coming from the insurance during the injury period will be a nice supplement to whatever is coming from the club. In a situation like that, players will be ready to give everything on the pitch, because they know they are covered in the event of any calamity. And the SE brand will become even more attractive to foreign born talents. After all, if playing for Nigeria is more lucrative than playing for England, for example, the decision to pick Nigeria becomes easier for someone like Ebere Eze.
    Football is a business, after all.

    • Proudly 9ja 3 years ago

      @cardinal you are absolutely right. One way to improve the SE brand is to do what Brazil do with the Selecao. They tour the globe with their global world tour. I know me personally if i were in Benin and the NFF even said to pay to watch the SE training i would have paid, i know many here would do the same. Just imagine the link @Ugo provided yesterday how many views it got, as last I checked it was over 4k people. I understand things are difficult for most people in 9ja and covid 19 too isn’t helping matters but just to put it in context, see how many people still look the video or how many come ogbe stadium to come cheer them as they arrived. 9ja is a soccer crazy nations and the players know it, that’s why whenever they come to 9ja they get the kind of love they never get for their clubs (some sticks too when they mess up lol) but u get my point. Owobi, Ebuehi, Aribo can all attest to this. Imagine touring Africa 1st, going to places like SA, Cameroon or Ghana for example, Nigerians would come in droves. Imagine also if the tour Europe, the amount of moni NFF will make in England, France, Germany, Spain, Nigerians are everywhere. Then they travel to North America, play friendly games with USA and Canada or Mexico sef, the amount of 9ja wey dey yankee and Cana plenty especially for worldcup year. Then then enter Asia, 9ja still yakpa there. Massive brand promotion and the moni from just gate takings alone will be massive. It just requires the willingness to do it and some strategic planning. People know SE already but doing the Global tour go improve the SE brand even more. Just a thought

  • D-Cardinal 3 years ago

    Why do we want eze to play for us? is it to improve us as a team or to better his career? From the way we are speaking its clear the former is the answer regardless how his career turns out after that.. Eze is in dicey situation, he wants to become undisputed in his club before coming open to make a statement concerning his stands on Senior National team,this is his first season in EPL,a dream he has nurtured since childhood,and considering how bad it will be for his development once he declares for Nigeria now. So I kind of understand him..if he plays for England at the end of the day it means he is good enough for them,and for him to be continually invited he will need to be at his best.England will not dump him if he is consistent in his performance..We should leave Eze and learn how to develop many Eze’s all over Nigeria. We have more talented lads of his age and below all over Nigeria. Instead of to blame Eze whom we don’t know how he had worked hard to be where he is today,let us call out our football administrators and pressure them into developing many Eze’s found everywhere in this country…Eze is not obliged to playing for Nigeria because we didn’t contribute to his development, let’s look inward.. Truth is bitter

    • Smith k 3 years ago

      @ Mr cardinal thank you for this.

    • Igbekun Abo 3 years ago

      D-cardinal, sense no go kill you. Again, you truly know the workings football. Patriotism should not make us use strong words to stylishly insult the lad. Good luck to him.

  • Prince eweka 3 years ago

    Eze,I have always known your plot. You and your agent are indirectly drawing the attention of the England Senior National team coach. You are like Philip Billing. If you like, go ahead and play for England, we don’t care. Stop using Nigeria to gain attention.

  • You are a great player, just like u stated please focus on your career and any national team that comes calling, gladly take it with open arms. You a fantastic player.

  • Edoman 3 years ago

    Leave Eze alone. He can do whatever he wants. He is an English man by all means. Just because his parents were from Nigeria originally why their child should feel obligated to think like Nigerians in Benin City or in Lagos. Some folks in Nigeria believes that just because your name is Iwobi or Eze, you must forget which Country you were born in and should come over to Nigeria and to help them out . That concept, which is an illusion, is wrong. Develop your own citizens and Nigeria population is huge enough to attract envy from other Nations both from within Africa and other Countries. There are many Ezes, Iwobis right there in Lagos and in Benin City or in Warri. Stop poaching. Osimham is a young great Nigerian. There are many more like him all over the place selling water bottle on the streets, begging to be picked up. Keep searching and when they are found, help them, like England would do.

    * the writer of this post is a Nigerian with a duel citizenship and has many children and grand children all born in England and in USA.*

    • Igbekun Abo 3 years ago

      My man, with your years come wisdom. Thumbs up man, you have spoken wisely.

  • D-Cardinal 3 years ago

    @igbekun abo…thanks man

  • But wait oh. I guess this guy has played competitively for England U-21 since after he ditched Nigeria’s invite for an England U-21 invite some months ago.

    This means even if he eventually decides to play for Nigeria and files for a switch of nationality, it would take up to 2 years before it gets through knowing England well for tarrying the process, just like in the current case of Ademola Lukman. why not accept to play for Nigeria or reject the England U-21 invite provisionally cap-tying him and as such wouldn’t be needing to file for a switch of nationality?

    I bet that Ebere Eze guy is merely using Nigeria as bargaining chip to get an England call-up. His mind lies away from Nigeria.

    Why reject an invite to the Super Eagles on the grounds that you wanted to focus on your club career only to make a dash to accept an invite from England U-21 some days after? Whatever happened to focusing on your club career in that situation as well?

  • On the flip side, I’m of the opinion we thoroughly develop our local league and scoop exciting talents from it as it was obtainable on the past.

    I have noticed this recent predilection for taking a beeline for dual nationality players.

    A league always bugged down with acrimony,corruption, underfunding and an air of uncertainty will not grow. Our league is declining at a break-neck speed and we seem not to take notice. When last was a ball kicked in our league?

    Talents discovered from our leagues coupled with those nurtured from our age-grade national teams, especially those coming straight from the academies, can make us scoff at these dual-nationality players.

    There really is nothing special about them that our homegrown players cannot easily surpass. It’s just a function of putting the right structures in place with sincerity of purpose.

    There is an avalanche of talents scattered everywhere in Nigeria.

  • Omaskels 3 years ago

    Make una leave Eze to rot in England bench..Av u guys seen Jamal musiala??? D bayern Munich wonderkid born in stuggart with a German mother n a Nigerian father?? Very fresh n hot as England n Germany are battling for him but very very much eligible for d Super Eagles. Although 17 but very talented..Oya Amaju n his gang should act now cos it’s a prodigy.!

  • Koladoc 3 years ago

    A front 3 of Saka- Osimhen- Chuwkueze would have been devastating

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