Nigeria & USA Battling For Aston Villa Defender Labelled The 'Next Virgil van Dijk’

Published: August 28, 2019

The United States Soccer Federation have not given up in their pursuit of Aston Villa central defender Iffy Udanoh, who has been labelled the 'next Virgil van Dijk', allnigeriasoccer.com understands.

The central defender's priority is to represent Nigeria at international level and he has been training with the Golden Eaglets in Abuja since the start of this week.

USSF have contacted Udanoh's father to formally make their interest known for the player to represent the United States of America, having watched him on several occasions whilst at Aston Villa.

US Soccer is hoping that Udanoh will consider the USA U17s ahead of five-time world champions Nigeria for the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup, and have sent an invitation letter to Aston Villa asking for permission to release the player for their World Cup training camp which starts on September 2.

They are fully aware that the center back is training with the Golden Eaglets and have offered to fly him from Abuja to United States.

Udanoh had attracted interest from Liverpool, West Ham and Wolverhampton Wanderers before his switch to Aston Villa in the summer transfer window.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel