A source close to the coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has confirmed that Chelsea Ola Aina will still be in the frame for a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria even if he joins a team in the second tier of English football.
Aina has already applied for a switch of nationality from England to Nigeria, but his switch is yet to be formally approved by FIFA, which is why he didn’t play for Nigeria in their 0-2 loss to South Africa in the AFCON 2019 Qualifiers.
Former coach of the Super Eagles Sunday Oliseh introduced the rule of barring players playing in second tier league during his reign as coach of the team, but it appears Rohr isn’t keen on maintaining the rule.
Aina is heavily linked with a move to the English Championship side Norwich City and Hull City from Chelsea in order for him to get game time, but a close source to Rohr claims it won’t have any effect on his potential call up to the senior national team of Nigeria.
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” I’m hearing about the rule for the first time, but that said Aina is still at Chelsea, and even if he moves to the Championship, his future with Nigeria won’t be affected by playing in English second tier league”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” Already the manager has seen what he likes in him, but you must also consider the Championship, it’s a very competitive league with players of various nationals playing in it. Beside it’s rated by many as the fourth strongest league in Europe. So it isn’t bad at all”.
Michael James
