Chelsea Duo, Abrahim, Tomori Pick England Over Nigerian National Team

Nigerian internationals and Chelsea’s stars, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori may have chosen English national team over Nigerian Super Eagles following a call up to the England squad on Thursday for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

Recall that Head coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr recently said that at the time he would respect the desires of Tomori and Abraham not to choose to represent Nigeria.

Advertisement

They also currently do not seek to engage with the West African country.

“They’re both interesting players, but without Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori we made our instant plans.

“They are not currently interested in debating their global alternatives, and we must respect that,” Rohr said to BBC Sport.

Abraham, who has won two caps for the Three Lions before in friendlies against Brazil and Germany in 2017, had flirted with switching his international allegiance to Nigeria, who he qualifies for through his father.

Advertisement

However, the 22-year-old, who scored his first Champions League goal for the Blues in a 2-1 win in Lille on Wednesday, now looks set to declare for England.

Abraham has scored seven times in seven Premier League games so far this season.

Tomori has also shone at centre-back for Chelsea after playing under Lampard on loan at Derby last season.

The emergence of a host of young players, though, has come at the expense of some of the stars of a run to the World Cup semi-finals 15 months ago.

Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli and Kyle Walker have all been left out.

Advertisement

The Three Lions travel to face the Czech Republic in Prague on October 11 before a trip to Sofia to take on Bulgaria four days later.

England is in a commanding position to qualify for next year’s European Championships after winning all four of their opening qualifiers.

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Nick Pope (Burnley), Tom Heaton (Aston Villa), Jordan Pickford (Everton)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez (both Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Ross Barkley, Mason Mount (both Chelsea), Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice (West Ham), Harry Winks (Tottenham), James Maddison (Leicester), Fabian Delph (Everton)

Advertisement

Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford, (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)

Leave a comment

Advertisement