Arsenal Midfielder Alex Iwobi To Debut For Nigeria Against Bolivia?

The Nigeria Football Federation are planning to hand Arsenal midfielder Alex Iwobi his debut in next month’s international friendly against Bolivia.

As you are aware, the England youth international was not featured against Gabon last weekend due to missing paperwork, but the NFF are working around the clock to complete his international allegiance switch in the next few weeks.

“The rules are very clear on players or country seeking to switch allegiance from one country to another, so Alex having played for England in the cadet level, there is no way he can play for us in any such level, unless the senior national team, this we are trying to do, luckily for us his parents have been of great help in this regard,” says NFF deputy secretary general Emmanuel Ikpeme.

He went on : “We all know that the U23 team is like the feeder team for the new Super Eagles we are trying to build, so bringing the young man to be part of this team was done on purpose, now that he has fitted and bonded with the team, our next target is trying to see how we can firm up the paper work with FIFA then invite him to the Super Eagles in our next international friendly, hopefully against Bolivia.”

Iwobi played 11 times for the youth teams of England, with his debut coming against Wales on October 27, 2011.