Southgate Reveals It's Ethically Wrong To Cap-Tie Abraham, Tomori To Stop Them From Representing Nigeria
Published: October 04, 2019England coach Gareth Southgate has refused to guarantee that he will hand competitive debuts to Chelsea duo Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori when the Three Lions face Czech Republic (Oct 11) and Bulgaria (Oct 14) in European Championship qualifiers this month.
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.
''They are English players and I'm sure they have huge desire to play for England at senior level''.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
Photo Credit : chelseafc.com
Latest News
- Transfer insider claims Arsenal are 'very interested' in signing Dutch-Nigerian striker Joshua Zirkzee
- Three Nigerians including history-making 16yo set to be named in Bayer's gameday squad v West Ham
- Onanuga scores beauty as Liverpool youth team lose seven-goal thriller to Newcastle
- Introducing Elisha Sulola: The Tottenham Hotspur academy product with Super Falcons potential
- Trabzonspor receive good news on Southampton loanee Onuachu ahead of trip to Kayserispor
- A beginner's guide to placing bets on Bet9ja
- Serie A giants Juventus considering move for Leicester ace Ndidi to bolster their midfield
- The Prodigy who faded: The curious case of Alen Halilovic
- Fabrizio Romano confirms Arsenal are leaning towards signing 36-goal striker over Osimhen
- Chelsea loanee Anjorin helps Portsmouth clinch League One title with two games to spare
Football News 24/7
News Categories
- Football Betting
- African Players
- Australia/ Asia
- Belgian Championship
- Bundesliga
- Danish Football
- English Premier League
- Nigeria National Teams
- Nigeria Premier League
- Norwegian Football
- Polish Football
- Russian Championship
- Serie A
- Spanish Liga
- Swedish Championship
- Transfer
- Turkish Championship
- Ukrainian Football
- Uncategorized
- Women's Football