Arsenal Coach Arteta To Encourage Saka To Snub Nigeria And Choose England

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has hinted that he would encourage Bukayo Saka to pledge his international future to England over Nigeria, where his parents hail from.

The Hale End Academy product is one of the London-born dual nationals on the radar of the Nigerian Federation ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the others being Ovie Ejaria (Liverpool), Ademola Lookman (RB Leipzig) and Eberechi Eze (Queens Park Rangers).

One issue that has prevented manager Gernot Rohr from adding the aforementioned players to the Super Eagles player pool is that they are provisionally cap-tied to England, having played competitively for the Young Lions.

While Nigeria have missed out on the likes of Ross Barkley, Dele Alli and Fikayo Tomori in recent years, they have beaten the English Football Association to Alex Iwobi, Joe Aribo and Ola Aina.

In quotes carried by Daily Mail, Arteta stated : "If I get asked the question then I can give my opinion.

"He hasn't come to me with that so for now I will leave it totally independent with the player and his family as they normally have a big say with their background, their culture and where they are coming room. I don't want to step in there.

"Absolutely [he is good enough to play for England] – and he's very clever to make the right decision, as well."

The 18-year-old Saka has had a breakout season with Arsenal, scoring 4 goals in 38 games while producing 12 assists.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com