All Eyes On Ola Aina As Chelsea Defender In Line For Nigeria Debut Vs Zambia

Published: October 03, 2017

Chelsea product Ola Aina is hoping to make his competitive debut at senior level by stepping out onto the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium turf on Saturday evening.

The former England U19 skipper caught the eye of manager Gernot Rohr, and even the players, when he trained with the national team at their get-together in London about six months ago, and has been considered for all Nigeria squads since then.

However, Aina could not debut against South Africa and the World Cup qualifier against Cameroon in Uyo as the process of tying his international allegiance to the Super Eagles was only approved by Fifa on September 1.

Having made the bench against Cameroon in Yaounde, the right back wants to go one step further by featuring against the Copper Bullets, which would make his dad proud of him.

Just before departing the English capital to link up with the Super Eagles in Uyo, Aina tweeted : ''Looking forward to International Duties🇳🇬#SuperEagles''.

Chelsea colleague Victor Moses and Aina's family friend Alex Iwobi turned out for England's youth teams before their maiden appearances for the Super Eagles, and the London-born defender is eager to follow in their footsteps.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel