Chelsea's tri-national midfielder Ashanti Akpan is in contention to represent England in her first major tournament, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

England U19s head coach John Griffiths has included Akpan in a 20-player squad for the 2024 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship holding in Lithuania from Sunday 14 July to Saturday 27 July.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Ashanti is eligible for the Super Falcons through her Nigerian father, but the English Football Association are believed to be in pole position for her services as of now, considering that she's already provisionally cap-tied to England.

She made her first competitive appearance for England youth in their opening game of the 2024 European Women's U19 Championship qualifiers against Greece back in October 2023.

The 18-year-old is one of the five Chelsea players named in England's squad, the others being Katie Cox, Brooke Aspin, Cerys Brown and Lexi Potter.

Akpan has been on the books of Chelsea for more than a decade, having joined them in August 2013, and signed her first professional contract in December 2023.

She follows the Super Falcons, Super Eagles and the Nigeria Football Federation on social media.

England will face Lithuania, Serbia and France in the group stage of the 2024 European U19 Championship.

Igho Kingsley

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