Michael Olise and Ebere Eze, who are of Nigerian origin currently don the shirt of Premier League side, Crystal Palace
By Kehinde Okeowo
The interim technical adviser of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen has taken the first step towards convincing Crystal Palace duo of Michael Olise and Ebere Eze to switch their allegiance to Nigeria.
Eguavoen is in England in the company of his assistant Emmanuel Amuneke, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick, and general secretary Mohammed Sanusi to meet with Premier League Super Eagles stars.
Olise was born in England to a Nigerian father and French-Algerian mother, and he is eligible to represent France, Algeria, England, or Nigeria.
The 20-year-old has represented France at the youth level in the past, he made his debut in 2019, against Qatar U23, he was also called up to the France U18 squad for the 2019 Toulon.
ALSO READ: Manchester City fire five past Sporting Lisbon
Eze on the other hand was born in Greenwich, Greater London to Nigerian parents and therefore eligible to play for the Three Lions of England and the Super Eagles.
He trained with the Nigeria national team in 2018, he was, however, called up to the England national under-20 team, where he made his debut in a 2–1 win against Italy in the Under 20 Elite League in October 2018.
Eze then captained England U20 in a 2–1 loss against Chile at the 2019 Toulon Tournament, where Olise also represented France, He made a total of seven appearances for the English U20 side.
According to Owngoalnigeria.com, Eguavoen met with UK based Nigerian David Doherty, ahead of the crucial world cup qualifiers playoff game against Ghana in March.
Doherty played a role in Ola Aina’s decision to switch allegiance to Nigeria, he also brought Ebere Eze to the Super Eagles training camp in London in 2017.
He is said to still be very close to the Eze, who in turn is a very close friend of Micheal Olise.
Details of their meeting haven’t been made public but it is believed that having the Crystal Palace duo switch allegiance to Nigeria was top on the agenda in the meeting.
