Obuh: 'Sammy Ameobi not lost to England'
Sammy Ameobi has featured for England U21s
Sammy Ameobi with F/Eagles
Flying Eagles coach John Obuh who passed off Sammy Ameobi in March
has said the Newcastle youngster could still be capped by Nigeria.
Ameobi has recently won two caps for the England U21 side, but Obuh told MTNFootball.com he now does not see any reason why the languid forward could not be invited to the Super Eagles or the Nigeria Olympic team.
“He is doing well in the English Premier League and so there is no reason why he cannot be capped by the Super Eagles or even the Olympic team,” said Obuh.
“It all depends on how the federation and the other national team coaches approach this issue.
“But I strongly believe all is not lost and Ameobi could still play for Nigeria.”
Incidentally Sammy’s older brother Shola has already perfected his own nationality switch and he is now eligible to star for the Eagles after he represented England at age-group levels.
Nineteen-year-old Ameobi trained with Nigeria’s U20 team in March in Turkey but in the end he was not considered for the Africa Youth Championship which the Flying Eagles went on to win South Africa.
“He was good when he trained with us, but he was not ripe enough and strong enough for the African football we would be up against at the AYC,” Obuh told MTNFootball.com
“Also, we had very little time and patience for him to stay with the team as he insisted on heading back to England to fight for a place at his club.”
Ameobi, according to other Flying Eagles officials, was also not willing to fly down to Nigeria from another training camp in Dubai.
“He bluntly refused to fly down to Nigeria, saying he has never been there and so we had to let him be,” said one of the officials.
Last week, the younger Ameobi penned a three-and-a-half contract with Newcastle United to underline how much progress he has made since March when he trained with the Flying Eagles.
He has so far made appearances and scored a goal for ‘The Magpies’.
The new deal is expected to ward off big-name suitors like Chelsea from the striker or winger, who is a big Lionel Messi fan.
Ameobi has recently won two caps for the England U21 side, but Obuh told MTNFootball.com he now does not see any reason why the languid forward could not be invited to the Super Eagles or the Nigeria Olympic team.
“He is doing well in the English Premier League and so there is no reason why he cannot be capped by the Super Eagles or even the Olympic team,” said Obuh.
“It all depends on how the federation and the other national team coaches approach this issue.
“But I strongly believe all is not lost and Ameobi could still play for Nigeria.”
Incidentally Sammy’s older brother Shola has already perfected his own nationality switch and he is now eligible to star for the Eagles after he represented England at age-group levels.
Nineteen-year-old Ameobi trained with Nigeria’s U20 team in March in Turkey but in the end he was not considered for the Africa Youth Championship which the Flying Eagles went on to win South Africa.
“He was good when he trained with us, but he was not ripe enough and strong enough for the African football we would be up against at the AYC,” Obuh told MTNFootball.com
“Also, we had very little time and patience for him to stay with the team as he insisted on heading back to England to fight for a place at his club.”
Ameobi, according to other Flying Eagles officials, was also not willing to fly down to Nigeria from another training camp in Dubai.
“He bluntly refused to fly down to Nigeria, saying he has never been there and so we had to let him be,” said one of the officials.
Last week, the younger Ameobi penned a three-and-a-half contract with Newcastle United to underline how much progress he has made since March when he trained with the Flying Eagles.
He has so far made appearances and scored a goal for ‘The Magpies’.
The new deal is expected to ward off big-name suitors like Chelsea from the striker or winger, who is a big Lionel Messi fan.
John Obuh should be blamed if young Sammy Ameobi decide to play for England. He's the one who chose to pick anyone who's from north in his team to impress all his malams in the north and that's why Flying lost to france in that tournament.. The idea the young man was not strong enough is just a story. I believe if it's God's wish for the younman to represent us it will happen. I do believe he's ten times better than any player from the north he had in his team other than Amed Musa.
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