Troost-Ekong Hails Iwobi, Ola Aina For Choosing Nigeria Over England

Bursaspor central defender William Troost-Ekong has praised Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina for choosing to play for Nigeria at senior level ahead of England.

Before they pledged their allegiance to their fathers' native land, the Chelsea defender had captained England at U19 level and the Arsenal winger was a key member of the Young Lions squad that won the prestigious Victory Shield in 2011.

Letting the cat out of the bag, Troost-Ekong had contacted allnigeriasoccer.com an advocate for players with dual nationality to choose Nigeria over their countries of birth, informing this website of his decision to play for Nigeria before he was invited to the Dream Team VI by coach Samson Siasia in 2014.

''I think I made the right choice, I am just really happy it worked out the way it is. There was some talk in the last weeks about Tyronne who just made the choice as well, that he should be considered to be playing for the Dutch national team now. We were laughing about it,'' said Troost-Ekong to Kwese Sports.

'' It's a new generation coming through, I think Alex has done the same maybe choosing Nigeria over England, and Ola Aina now. It is exciting to see that people want to play for Nigeria.

''It was always in my heart ready to play for Nigeria and I think it is amazing that hopefully I can one day be a role model for other kids that grew up in Europe that want to play for their original country.''

Troost-Ekong, 24, represented the Netherlands at U19 and U20 level before earning his first Super Eagles cap in an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania in September 2015.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel