Former Nigeria captain Nwankwo Kanu has said the Super Eagles have other top players to call up and so should not be disappointed Chelsea stars Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori have opted to play for England.
Abraham and Tomori have been picked by England for 2020 Euro qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria later this month and should they make their official debuts, they will no longer be eligible to play for Nigeria, where their parents hail from.
Top Nigeria officials severally tried to convince Abraham to change his international allegiance to Nigeria after he represented England at various age-grade levels.
Former Arsenal star Kanu, who led Nigeria to win an historic Olympic gold in 1996 and played at three World Cups, said Abraham and Tomori would have been valuable additions to Nigeria, but the country ought not to beg any player to play for it.
“If they do (agree to play for Nigeria), it’s good for us and if they don’t, we move on. That’s football and I think we have enough quality and we can win matches without them,” he said.
“We have quality players everywhere, so we can’t continue to beg one player to play for us. Nigeria cannot beg, players have to beg Nigeria.”
Kanu added: “Our problem is that whenever someone starts doing well, we start chasing them, which is not bad because other countries do that.
“I feel we don’t need to force people to play for the country, because Nigeria is bigger than any player.”
In recent times, Nigeria have capped at full international level Victor Moses and Sone Aluko, who featured for England at age-grade levels.
