Canada men's national team coach John Herdman has sensationally claimed that Chelsea attempted to block Ike Ugbo from representing the Reds and also revealed that the Racing Genk striker could have pledged his international future to Nigeria over the North Americans.

Ugbo was quickly handed a roster spot ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifying matches against Costa Rica and Mexico shortly after pledging his loyalty to the Canadians.

Three years ago, Canada Soccer contacted Chelsea over the possibility of Ugbo switching his allegiance to Canada but the Premier League side claimed the striker wasn't interested.

Late last year, Ugbo started the process of switching his allegiance from England to Nigeria but the Nigeria Football Federation were too slow in the paperwork, allowing the Canada Soccer Association to snatch him from right under their nose.

"Through our excel structure we were able to find a contact at Woodbridge who had let us know that Ike had the potential to play for Canada, this is back in 2018," Herdman told reporters, including One Media.

"So we contacted Chelsea's Head of Recruitment and at the time they just stonewalled the opportunity, they were very clear that Ike wasn't interested in representing Canada although we never got a chance to speak to the player who was young at the time.

"They were very clear he was on a pathway with England and that Canada wasn't an option."

He added : "Ike could have easily went to Nigeria but it was pretty clear that he wants to be part of this journey, this brotherhood we've created with this young group of men, and to take a country somewhere it's never been before and to have that experience that doesn't come around very often in people's football careers".

Ugbo represented his country of birth England at the 2015 U17 World Cup and was part of the Young Lions squad that won the Toulon Tournament in 2017.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel