Troost-Ekong Reveals: Super Eagles Players Accepted Uzbek-Born Odemwingie More Than Me

Published: June 02, 2018

Bursaspor defender William Troost-Ekong has revealed that Super Eagles players accepted former West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie more than him, even though both players are of mixed-race.

Odemwingie was born in Uzbekistan to a Nigerian father and Russia mother while Ekong was born in the Netherlands to a Nigerian father and Dutch mother.

''Keshi put a new process into effect. They went to look for boys who had their football training in Europe. There are boys around us who were born in the Netherlands, Germany and England,'' Ekong said in an interview with Dutch football magazine Elf Voetbal.

''Some have one Nigerian parent, such as Tyronne and me. But Alex Iwobi from Arsenal has two Nigerian parents....''

He added : ''In Nigeria, they see me as a 'blank' (Dutch for someone with white skin,ed) and the team was surprised I was there. Not that I was the first person with a second nationality.

''Peter Odemwingie was until then I think the best known. He is half Russian, half Nigerian. But because he was brought up in Nigeria, he was more easily accepted. In the beginning, they looked at me a lot because of that.''

Troost-Ekong netted his maiden international goal in Nigeria's 1-1 draw with Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, he is the only player to have started the last sixteen games played by the national team.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel