Former Super Eagles defender George Abbey has advised the Nigeria Football Federation against begging players with Nigeria descent to come and represent the country.
After failing in their bid to convince Chelsea duo of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori to dump England for the West African Nation, the Nigeria Football Federation is also facing big task to win the race for Bayern Munich starlet Joshua Zirkzee who has represented the Netherlands at the age-grade level.
While the NFF has been widely criticized for trying too hard to convince players of Nigeria descent to come to play for the country, Abbey George opined its not a bad idea, but he maintained the players must also be willing to play for the country.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea, because if you look Victor Moses came and did a good job, now we have Troost-Ekong and Balogun who also doing well. So I think we have players who are happy to come, but I don’t think we should beg anyone to and plays for us.”He told www.brila.net.
The former Macclesfield town defender who chose to represent Nigeria over Wales also explained why some of these are reluctant to represent Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a big nation, we are one of the best in the world, but I can understand why some of the players are hesitant. Some of them are born abroad, they have never been to Nigeria, they know nothing about the culture, so when Nigeria approaches them to come and they petrify.”
“Basically we are taking them out of their comfort zone, but the ones who wanted to come are welcome and the one who did not, we have to respect their decision,” he told www.brila.net.
Abbey George was born in Nigeria to Welsh mother and a Nigerian father, he was part of Nigeria’s bronze-winning 2004 African Cup of Nations squad in Tunisia.
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