The Nigerian national team is looking to beat England to the international allegiance of Bukayo Saka.
The Arsenal youngster qualifies to play for the African nation through his parents who are from there.
He has been in fine form for Arsenal and although his age means he can still play for a number of age groups for any national team, his performances for Arsenal are beyond his age.
I don’t know which national team he is currently leaning towards, but I hope that he doesn’t agree to play for Nigeria.
There might be disadvantages of choosing England over Nigeria, but the one reason why I hope he doesn’t choose Nigeria is because of the timing of the African Cup of Nations.
This competition is like the Euros for the African continent, and it is usually played in the month of January through February.
If Saka chooses to play for Nigeria, it means that we will have to deal with being without his services when that competition is being played and that period is usually an important time in the Premier League season.
This may seem a selfish reason and it is and I make no apologies for that, my priority is Arsenal and any of our players being unavailable is a disadvantage we do not need.
I will not be able to influence his decision, but I hope he doesn’t choose Nigeria.
An article from Ime
If he wants to play regular international football then choose Nigeria but then we lose him during the ACON and if chooses England he might not play very many games so it’s a difficult decision for the boy.. he can take his time on any decision as he’s only 18 years old and is still developing.
Lol @ Article
Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, these few two players are on my mind. He is free to chose whether to represent England or Nigeria. Good luck to him in his future choice.
Hes free to choose any country but if he wish to international football regularly…..
then it would be better for him to choose Nigeria
Definately he deserve playing time if that really matters he should play for Nigeria considering the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor whose carear ended in just a lime time.
Afcon is now played in the summer. The last one that was played in Egypt was played when Fifa U-17 was ongoing.
The premise that we’ll lose him in January if he plays for Naija is false. However,I heard as a rumour that it was moved back to January which is will be rubbish if it’s true.
He needs to weigh in his options critically. Which side will avail him the best opportunity? His chances of making it internationally. England has got so many players coming up and any slide in form,he would be sidelined.
With the Eagles,he’s got advantage of prolonged international career.
But, the ball is in his court, he should play it wisely.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, but the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during this period, the tournament would take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021.[2] On 30 June 2020, CAF moved the tournament for the third time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Africa_Cup_of_Nations
The movement to January/February is temporary because of the climatic conditions in Cameroun. It will revert back to June/July, especially when hosted outside West Africa. Ivory Coast have already accepted to host 2023 in June/July even though they are in West Africa. The timing of the AFCON is no longer an excuse.
But the next TWO are in January?
Actually he have all the right to choose which country he want to play for.
Between the two countries ,Nigeria is the best place for him to improve as a player because he will have more play time than in England.
For his experience and benefit to Arsenal,Nigeria seem to be the perfect place for Bukayo Saka.
He should choose England because they have a chance of winning World Cup than Nigeria.
When was the last time the 3lions won a trophy in recent years? Please remind me.He stands better chance of winning more national trophies with Super Eagles.It will all be down on him to decide as comments over here are inconsequential to his decision.
They are likely to do it in the near future. Between the two nations and with talents like Saka England has a more chance than Nigeria.
@ le Coq that’s an expensive joke. I guess we should call every English man colonizer
The boys parents are Nigerian. He has a full nigerian name BUKAYO SAKA. He may have been born in England doesn’t change him from being of Nigerian decent. I remember the case of Agbonlahor. You be the judge of that. English clubs take players round the globe irrespective of age. Why don’t they just stick to their region by your reasoning.
Personally, I care only for whether Saka’s choice of country helps or hinders Arsenal. The African Nations Cup never helps , but only hinders, all our clubs who are involved with lending their players.
For that reason I entirely agree with the writers choice of England as my preferred choice for his country. Other than that, it is no ones business but his own.
I do feel though that breaking into the full England team anytime soon is a considerable hurdle, when you look at the riches of choice England has currently!
@jonfox.
Sometimes I don’t think you guys think before typing. The euros favours players and the AFCON doesn’t. Lol. You know what that statement was. I don’t need to call you out.
Saka is going to play for Nigeria. He is a Nigerian.
There are so many biased comments over here, England has succeeded in ruining the international future of fikayo tomori, and now they want to do the same to saka.
Saka would be very stupid to choose England.
England is not a real footballing nation rather they depend on other international players to build their national team.
Rose Barkley, Dele alli, fikayo tomori, tammy abraham, gabriel agbonlahor, carlton Cole, etc were all stolen from Nigeria.
Just as they also stole Rahim sterling away from Jamaica.
Pathetic England, please build your own indigenous player and stop international theft of players.
If your reason is the Afcon the please stop it. African greats have still played in Europe and repesented there countries in Afcon and still won titles for their clubs in the same season.
Europe keeps stealing from us although they have everything.