Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Eze was willing to play for Super Eagles on one condition

Allnigeriasoccer.com can exclusively report that Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze was willing to represent the Super Eagles in 2022, but it did not work out eventually. 

The former Arsenal schoolboy is provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth, England after making his competitive debut for the Young Lions in a European U21 Championship qualifier against Albania in November 2019.

FIFA Council member Amaju Pinnick was an advocate of players with dual-eligibility during his tenure as Nigeria Football Federation president, with the likes of Alex Iwobi, Ola Aina, Joe Aribo and Josh Maja choosing to represent the Super Eagles over the Three Lions 

Pinnick failed in his bid to lure Chelsea academy products Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori, as well as Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka to the three-time African champions. 

Nigeria initially made the move to cap Eze by inviting him to train with the Super Eagles in March 2017 ahead of a friendly with Burkina Faso but could not bag him as the friendly was later canceled. 

And since then, the 2013 AFCON winners have been trying to convince him to switch his allegiance from England to Nigeria without success. 

Pinnick's chase for Eze was intense in the weeks leading up to the 2022 World Cup playoff against the Black Stars of Ghana and the football administrator arranged a face-to-face confidential meeting with the Crystal Palace star at his home in London.  

Unlike his Palace teammate, Michael Olise, who pulled out of talks straight away, Eze assured Pinnick during the meeting that he would only consider playing for the Super Eagles if they qualified for the World Cup. 

The plan went up in smoke after the Black Stars beat the Super Eagles to the 2022 World Cup ticket. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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