Leon Balogun urges NFF to attract more dual-national players to strengthen Super Eagles

By Olaolu Joseph

Nigerian international Leon Balogun has called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to make the senior national team more attractive after missing out on some exciting players with dual nationality.

The English Football Association won the recruitment battle for Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, even though the latter trained with the Super Eagles before a cancelled friendly against Burkina Faso in 2017.

Bayern Munich ace Michael Olise chose to commit his international future to France, despite being approached by former NFF president Amaju Pinnick and being named to the Super Eagles’ provisional roster for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Republic of Benin and Lesotho in 2021.

The NFF did not do enough to convince Real Madrid star David Alaba and Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji to play for the Super Eagles before they appeared in cap-tying games for Austria and Switzerland, respectively.

Reports on Monday suggested that new England boss Thomas Tuchel is keeping an eye on Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri, with plans to call him up to the Three Lions, while Manchester United striker Chido Obi is another player to watch.

The German-born Balogun reflected on his Nigerian identity and urged the NFF to make more effort to draw top dual-national players to the Super Eagles.

“There’s so much potential, so many players. Look at David Alaba, Manuel Akanji, Michael Olise — players we missed out on — Eze, Saka, and so many others,” Balogun remarked.

“Still more to come. There’s one guy now at Werder Bremen, Felix Agu. So obviously, it’s about sending the right messages and making the national team attractive.

“I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who felt, at the time I got called up to the national team, that this is home. This is my other half calling me to come home, to find out who you are.

“Until that point, I wasn’t in touch too much with my Nigerian identity, and I’m still learning now because it’s been two years since I started actually learning Yoruba with a teacher, which is not easy.”

Nigeria’s run to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final was bolstered by dual-national players, including Alex Iwobi, Ademola Lookman, Calvin Bassey, Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong, and Samuel Ajayi, all featuring in former coach Jose Peseiro’s ideal starting lineup.