London-born Abraham rejects England to play for Nigeria

CAIRO-21 September 2017 : Nigerian Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, announced on Thursday that Chelsea’s youngster, Kevin Oghenetega, known as Tammy Abraham has agreed to represent his father’s homeland, Nigeria over the country he was born in, England.

Abraham, 19, is available to play for Nigeria’s senior team as he didn’t play any game with England’s first team.

Pinnick used his good relation with the striker’s father to convince him to play for Nigeria; Pinnick said, “I had a very honest and productive discussion with Tammy and his father last week.”

Pinnick added, “It’s been a long process but I can tell you authoritatively that he has agreed to play for Nigeria and not England. He and his parents have started the necessary documents to affect the switch.”

Abraham, who was born in South London district, Camberwell, is a Chelsea academy product; he joined the club when he was nine and he rose through the club rankings till 2016, when he went to Bristol City on a loan. In 2017, the club loaned him to Swansea City after signing a new contract with Chelsea.

Pinnick explained why Abraham took Nigeria’s side and he said, “Clearly he understands he stands a better chance playing for the Super Eagles. With his talent, he has the ability to fight for a place in the Nigeria squad, by God's grace we make it to Russia, then he would contest for a chance to represent his fatherland.”

Abraham represented England in U18, U19 and U21, he was among the English squad who participated in UEFA European Under-19 Championship on July 2016 in Germany and UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland on June 2017.