Southgate Reveals It's Ethically Wrong To Cap-Tie Abraham, Tomori To Stop Them From Representing Nigeria

The two young stars qualify to play for the Super Eagles and the Nigeria Football Federation have attempted to convince both to pledge their allegiance to the three-time African champions without success.

Obviously, if Abraham and Tomori feature in any of the two Euro qualifiers, that would mean they'll definitely be England players going forward.

Southgate has revealed that it is morally wrong to cap-tie both players just to prevent them from representing Nigeria.

Speaking to reporters after his squad announcement on Thursday, Southgate said on Abraham : ''I haven't discussed it with him, I have left Frank to have the conversation to let him know he's in the squad which is always nice for a club manager to be able to do.

''We have got literally close to hundreds of players now in our system with dual nationality so I don't think it is ethically right just to give a player a cap to make sure they can't play for somebody else.''

Southgate stressed that Abraham and Tomori are homegrown talents and their allegiance is with England despite being eligible to turn out for Nigeria.

He added : ''The two boys Fik and Tammy are in the squad this time on merit.

''I am not going to guarantee that they are going to get on the pitch but they have been part of our junior system, Fik came a little bit later than Tammy but he's been part of the youth team that won the World Cup.

''As far as we are concerned, the two boys have been developed through English football.