Burnley co-owner willing to convince Nigeria, Canada and Italy-eligible winger to play for USMNT

Burnley co-owner JJ Watt is willing to convince Super Eagles-eligible winger Luca Koleosho to represent the United States Men's National Team and has revealed how he will he go about it. 

The Burnley forward is eligible to play for four countries - Nigeria through his father, Canada and Italy through his mother, and United States which is his country of birth.

The 19-year-old has featured for Italy and the United States at the youth level and was once called up to the Canadian senior national team but currently represents Italy U21s.

Asked what he would tell the talented winger if he was asked to persuade him to represent the USMNT, Watt told Men In Blazers Podcast via goal.com:

"Everybody, the brightest experts in the world – all the people on Twitter, who obviously know better than anybody else – have told me that you should play for America.

"My pitch to him would be to think about how incredible and how special it would be to play for your home country, to represent your home country and to do something special and to help shepherd that next wave in of what could be.

"With the Olympics and the World Cup coming to our country over the next five years or so, there are going to be some incredibly exciting times in American football coming up and you can help to be a catalyst for even more growth in the game.

"Wouldn't it just be fun! Every international break, you are where you want to be." 

The battle to secure the international allegiance of the Burnley winger promises to be an interesting one with Italy coach Luciano Spalleti revealing that he is keeping a close eye on him while the United States are also hoping he decides to play for them.

Koleosho joined Vincent Kompany's side in the summer and has made 15 appearances in the Premier League, scoring one goal and registering two assists.

He is currently recovering from a knee injury that he suffered during the Clarets' 1-0 loss to Wolves.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

Photo Credit: burnleyfootballclub.com

Copyright ANS

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from allnigeriasoccer.com