The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has warned that Nigeria is too big to beg the like of Crystal Palace mercurial midfielder, Eberechi Eze and other Diaspora players to play for the Super Eagles.
Pinnick, who spoke to SportingSun in Abuja, revealed that though he has met with Eze and his father among others, the federation has resolved that any of such player wishing to play for the country, should put the commitment in writing.
The football federation boss stressed that in an attempt to avoid a repeat of past mistakes, the federation has already received written commitment from Agboguma and others confirming their readiness to switch nationality to Nigeria.
Speaking specifically on the Palace attacking midfielder, Pinnick said: “I have met Eze’s father, we had dinner and argued about it. I have also met with Eze when he came to see me sometime ago, but the truth is that we have to allow them time to decide.
“We have also resolved that anybody who wants to play for Nigeria must write to us to make some commitment. We don’t want to make the mistake we made in the past.
“Already, Kelvin Agboguma and one other have already written to commit their future to Nigeria. They know that Nigeria is a big country to launch anybody higher than they imagine,” he noted.
Reemphasising the decision of the federation, he warned: “We won’t beg anybody to play for Nigeria. We can only talk to them to come play for fatherland if they wish to. But, we are not going to go cap in hand to beg anybody. We have many players even in our domestic league.”
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