Precious Ugwu: 18yo eligible for Bosnia, Germany, Nigeria, Netherlands makes unofficial debut for Ajax

Highly-rated quad-national central defender Precious Ugwu made his unofficial debut for Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in a pre-season friendly against Al-Wasl, the champion of the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday evening.

The 18-year-old has Dutch and German citizenship and qualifies to represent Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina through his father and mother respectively.

Mirela, Precious Ugwu's mother, claimed last year they turned down an approach from the Nigeria Football Federation to represent the national team. 

Ugwu, who played for Ajax U18s last season, has been invited to train with the first team by manager Francesco Farioli. 

After he was an unused substitute in Ajax's second pre-season friendly with Sint-Truiden on July 9, the Netherlands youth teamer was brought on in the closing minutes of a 2-1 win against Al-Wasl, replacing Anton Gaaei in he 93rd minute for his first unofficial appearance for the Amsterdam club.

Ugwu offers versatility as he is capable of playing as a central defender, defensive midfielder and right-back. 

The defender is provisionally cap-tied to the Netherlands, after representing them in last year's European U17 Championship.

Blessed with leadership qualities, he captained Netherlands U18s in a friendly against Czech Republic in March 2024.

A week before they face FK Vojvodina in the qualifying round of the Europa League, the four-time European champions earned a narrow 2-1 win over Al-Wasl, thanks to goals from Branco van den Boomen and Julian Rijkhoff.

Nottingham Forest-linked striker Chuba Akpom was not named in the matchday squad to face Al-Wasl,

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit: ajax.nl

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