England Handed Boost As Charlton Wonderkid Ogbebor-Onaiwu Rejects Chance To Train With Nigeria U17s

The English Football Association have been handed a boost in their effort to cap highly-rated Charlton Athletic glovesman Edward Ogbebor-Onaiwu, with the teenager rejecting overtures from the Nigerian Federation to represent the Golden Eaglets.

 The 15-year-old has long been on the radar of the Nigeria coaches and has been invited to train with the Golden Eaglets and Dream Team VI with a view to handing him his international bow, but did not honour both call ups as a result of commitments with the Addicks youth team.

“Edward Ogbebor-Onaiwu’s dad has spoken with the coaching staff of the Golden Eaglets about him coming over to camp as they are picking the best players and preparing for their first game against Niger, ” a top source told allnigeriasoccer.com.

“However, he would not be coming over to Abuja. His dad wants him to be older before he starts representing Nigeria, he is too young. ”

While Ogbebor-Onaiwu has never trained with the Nigeria setup, the netminder trained with one of the England youth teams at St Georges Park, Burton in April 2015.

The Crystal Palace product models his game after Manuel Neuer ( Bayern Munich), Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) and Vincent Enyeama (Lille).

Ifeanyi Emmanuel