Republic of Ireland move to beat Nigeria to Bazunu as Man City-owned GK earns first senior call up

Published: March 18, 2021

The Football Association of Ireland are aiming to finally beat their Nigeria counterparts to the services of Manchester City loanee Gavin Bazunu.

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has named a 29-man squad for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifying matches, with the Rochdale goalkeeper making the cut.

This is the first time in Bazunu's career that he has been invited to Republic of Ireland's senior national team and he's in line to make his debut for The Boys in Green in one of the upcoming matches against Serbia (March 24), Luxembourg (March 27) and Qatar (March 30).

FIFA's new eligibility rules stipulate that a dual national cannot apply for a change of association if he was fielded in more than three matches at "A" international level in any kind of football for his current association.

The 19-year-old, who was born in Dublin, previously played competitive matches for Ireland's U17 and U21 teams, making him provisionally cap-tied to the European nation.

Meanwhile, four other players of Nigerian descent have been selected in the latest Republic of Ireland U21 squad announced on Thursday.

They are Ademipo Odubeko (West Ham United), Andrew Omobamidele (Norwich City), Jonathan Afolabi (Celtic) and Joshua Kayode (Rotherham United).

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : mancity.com

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