'Not easy to play for the national team' - Fisayo Dele-Bashiru admits ahead of potential cap-tying game 

Manchester City academy product Fisayo Dele-Bashiru has admitted that it is difficult to be selected to play for the Super Eagles due to the population of Nigeria. 

The Hatayspor midfielder is eligible to play international football for Germany where he was born, England where he was raised and Nigeria through his parents, but playing for the Super Eagles was his first choice from the word go.

He attended a Flying Eagles training camp in Germany in the summer of 2019 but was controversially dropped from the Fifa U20 World Cup roster as manager Paul Aigbogun felt that his brother Tom Dele-Bashiru and Nnamdi Ofoborh were ahead of him in the pecking order of central midfielders. 

Erstwhile Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro handed Fisayo a maiden call-up for a pair of internationals against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique last October following his brilliant start to the season at Hatayspor, for whom he registered 7 goal involvements in his first eight appearances in the Turkish Super Lig. 

After making his debut in the friendly against Mozambique, Dele-Bashiru will become cap-tied to Nigeria if he plays even for one minute in the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Bafana Bafana.

The 23-year-old has returned to Nigeria for the first time in twenty years and is delighted with the warm reception accorded him,. 

Speaking to the Super Eagles media team, Dele-Bashiru said: "It means everything to me, from my family, my parents, it means a lot. I am always happy to make my brother, mom, dad, cousins, uncles, everyone proud.

"Nigeria is a country of over 200 million population so it's not an easy thing to play for the national team, I'm always proud to play for them."

Looking ahead to the World Cup qualifiers, Dele-Bashiru fancies the Super Eagles chances of picking up maximum points from both games. 

"Going into every game we have confidence that we can beat the opponents. We will take these games one by one and hopefully we can get the victory in both of them. 

"I've really been enjoying the training. We have also had some running and physical stuff in the training , I enjoyed it.

"Keep supporting me, hopefully I can show you guys what I'm capable of doing if not now then in the future."

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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