Southampton winger Nathan Tella has revealed the reason behind his decision to show interest in playing for the Super Eagles.
Tella was born in England to Nigerian parents.
The 24-year-old is eligible to play for Nigeria and England.
The versatile winger recently expressed interest in representing the three-time African champions.
“I feel like it’s always been a big part of my life. I was born in London and I’ve been in England all my life, but at the same time my parents and grandparents are Nigerian, so I feel like it’s the bright route to go down so I wanna do something that makes my family proud as well,” the 24-year-old said in an interview with OmaSports.
“I’ve asked him quite a bit and at Southampton I had Joe Aribo as well, so I spoke to both of them just to see what it’s like, but obviously, I’ve been with Victor and he’s been telling me what’s it like so if I get the chance I’ll love to play with him there.”
Tella also speaks highly about the Nigeria national team.
It’s a very talented national team, but I’ve always liked a challenge myself. The reason I’m here is to push myself and challenge myself. I wanted to play with better players, and with the national team, you’re playing with the best players in the country. By all means, I want to get to know them, play with them, learn from them and then get the opportunity to improve,”
14 Comments
I hope he us giving a chance to prove himself. He is business like minded who loves to push the ball forward and selfless though not necessarily as skillful as Lookman and Chukwu but more technical than the both.
With way Chukwu is playing I pray Milan will not loan him next season. Both he and lookman seems lazy and unconcerned
Chukwueze’s main problem is he’s not a team player. He’s obsessed with personal glory. Number 2 is he has refused to learn from great left footers, so his right leg and head are almost completely useless on the field.
If he has a 50% chance of scoring and another player has a 90% chance. he’d rather try to score than pass. I’ve seen it at Villareal and a thousand times in SE shirt. Plus all his now very predictable one-legged nutmegs. Boring AF. Kills off momentum and great chances and frustrates the main strikers.
Now that chukwueze and co are messing up, is not good to get many wingers that will give serious competition?
Chukwuezie needs a challenge at the right wing. He’s being too complacent and he needs to be pushed at both club and national levels. Chukwuezie, what have you done for us lately…. If Peseiro knows what he is doing, this is the right time to find a replacement and Nathan Tella is lurking and knocking. Same for Uzoho and the rest of them at the Goalkeeping Department. Imagine SE playing all their hearts out at AFCON only for our goalkeepers to divert harmless free kicks into the net (own goal).. That will be heartbreaking and making the defenders to be frustrated and not having confidence in the goal keeper….. We have been seeing this weakness in the goal keeping department for over 2 years now and I wonder what the coach is doing about this.
Chukwuezie needs a challenge at the right wing. He’s being too complacent and he needs to be pushed at both club and national levels. Chukwuezie, what have you done for us lately…. If Peseiro knows what he is doing, this is the right time to find a replacement and Nathan Tella is lurking and knocking. Same for Uzoho and the rest of them at the Goalkeeping Department. Imagine SE playing all their hearts out at AFCON only for our goalkeepers to divert harmless free kicks into the net (own goal).. That will be heartbreaking. We have been seeing this weakness in the goal keeping department for over 2 years now and I wonder what the coach is doing about this.
Lookman have been below average ever since his introduction into the SE,he is only enjoying the foreign born tag in the team.
@ Respect is Recipprocal, business like is indeed a good description of the way Tella plays. No messing around. Intelligent, very direct, fast, crosses and shoots well with both feet. But I also think he is skillful too. I don’t think Lookman and Chuks are far ahead of him when it comes to skill.
I also want to see Orban get a run out. We need guys with fire in the belly. Even if the talent is not special, with hunger and desire, you can achieve a lot. With Orban, we have a talented guy who is also hungry and motivated. And he has another quality that is much needed at the highest level. COURAGE. He’s not afraid of big occasions, not afraid to take on responsibility. Let’s hope he overcomes his current dip in form quickly. If he returns to his best, we will need him.
As long as we keep selection strictly based on merit, we should be in good shape.
“Southampton” winger? Really, Complete Sports?! LOL…
Complete sports will never stop disappointing themselves… Do they want to tell us that they are not aware that Tella is no more a Southampton player?
So you guys @Completesports do not know that Tella is now a Bayer Leverkusen player?
Chukwuezie needs a challenge at the right wing. He’s being too complacent and he needs to be pushed at both club and national levels. Chukwuezie, what have you done for us lately…. If Peseiro knows what he is doing, this is the right time to find a replacement and Nathan Tella is lurking and knocking. Same for Uzoho and the rest of them at the Goalkeeping Department. Imagine SE playing all their hearts out at AFCON only for our goalkeepers to divert harmless free kicks into the net (own goal).. That will be heartbreaking, disappointing and demoralizing to the defense. We know what difference it makes on a defense that has a very good goalkeeper behind it. We have a weakness and we have seen this weakness in the goal keeping department for over 2 years now and I wonder what the coach is doing about this.
I must commend coach pieserio for is forward looking decisions of late but more of such decisions still need to be made for SE to achieve greatness…….Tella is a player that needs to be in the team…..it’s very clear for all to see…..Tella can also play as a 10 of which xabi Alonso has already deployed him in that position this season….Tella does not need a nationality switch to play for Nigeria just call him up like you called Boniface…..Tella is playing in the German Bundeliga which is high level so including him only raises the profile and standard of the team higher…..We need to look forward.
this guy may be good as a winger but im a bit concerned about his size he is diminutive and could struggle against a physical african side, we have enough small statured players in the team with the likes of lookman and simon (simon is ofcourse well adapted to playing with anyone as he is physically very strong) but tella may struggle. we can still bring him in lat
er, but for now its a bit late unless injuries occur to some of our wingers,we still have Ejuke out there, who is a great winger with experience with the super eagles.
@sportsfan. Messi has small stature so also Arjen Robben in fact most Argentines have small stature and yet they play fantastically. The problem African has is we believe in too much contact play while European make the ball do the contact and despite our physical attributes we see Senegal and Cameron struggling against tiny players. I think we have enough big players with no big brain . We need intelligent players ,Osimein to me is gra gra player, so also Boniface,Iwobi, Ndindi,and the likes. Only iheanacho has football sense although he is sometimes lazy, Ademola lookman too is intelligent in his play but lacks zeal and patriotism maybe he is still regretting no playing for England. Chukwu Eze is bundle of skill but no brain I hope he won’t be sent on loan in AC Millan. Tella to me is fast and he knows when to release the ball which is what we lack in Eagles, holding to ball unnecessarily. I also wish to see Dele Bashiru today. Three players can solve our creativity problems Ejaria, Eze and this crystal Palance playmaker, unfortunately two of them don’t seem to be interested in Nigeria,but we have Ejaria .
To say boniface is a gra gra player let’s me know that your football knowledge is limited. It is either that or you have seen enough footage of him play. Is he physical? Absolutely! But his major attribute is his football brain.