Nigeria may lose out as English FA sets to move in on Arsenal’s wonder kid
The Super Eagles of Nigeria may likely miss out on the possibility of having Arsenal wonderkid Chido Obi-Martin play for the country
Reports say the English FA have commended quick moves to lure the young star, who scored a record 10 goals against Liverpool Under-16s on Saturday, back to representing England.
The 15-year-old young star has already featured for the youth sides of both Denmark—his country of birth—and England this year. He can also represent Nigeria through his father, the Daily Mail Sport reports.
Obi-Martin’s brilliant display on Saturday in Arsenal’s’ 14-3 victory over Liverpool has sent the player into the main headlines in Nigeria, England, and Denmark.
The player can switch allegiance back to either Nigeria or England if he wishes, despite his recent outings for Denmark, where he scored in the Under-17 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.
The young Arsenal player was recently brought into first-team training sessions by Mikel Arteta earlier this month to show that his talent has been recognised by the Gunners boss.
He told the Danish press, ‘He is not locked to Denmark. As I have been explained the rules, you can change once when you have played current matches. I’m not nervous about that because we’re not going to do anything about it.
‘I just relate to the fact that Chido and his family have agreed that he would like to play for Denmark. If he chooses to do it differently at some point, it’s kind of out of our hands.’
Nigeria has, over the years, lost vital players who could play for the Super Eagles.
Among the notable players are John and Justin Fashanu, David Alaba, Agbonlahor Gabriel, Angelo Ogbonna, Oguchi Onyewu, Dele Alli among several others.
