5 Ex-Footballers that Ditched Nigeria for England

The body governing football in the World FIFA, have approved the switch of nationality for Ademola Lookman from England to Nigeria. Lookman was part of the English team that won the U-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017.

Notjustok has decided to take a look at ex-footballers who are Nigerians but choose to play for England instead of the Nigerian team.

(1) Carlton Cole:

The former Chelsea player acknowledged that he was approached by Nigeria and he was tempted with the desire of playing alongside Nwankwo Kanu. According to him Chelsea told him, it was in his best interest not to play for the Super Eagles. Cole's father is a Nigerian while his mother hails from Sierra Leone. Cole had only seven caps for the Three Lions, all from the bench.

(2) Ugo Ehiogu:

The centre-back who also has Nigerian parents, choose to play for England instead of Nigeria. He played most of his club football for Middlesbrough and Aston Villa, he got himself only four caps for England. Ugo died in 2017 following a heart attack on Tottenham's training ground.

(3) Gabby Agbonlahor:

The former Aston Villa player remains one of the players that most Nigerians wanted to play for the Super Eagles, but like the others, he choose England ahead of the three times AFCON winners. Agbonlahor played just three games for England without scoring any goal.

(4) John Salako:

The former Crystal Palace player is the only Nigerian born footballer to play for the Three Lions of England. Salako was given birth to in Ibadan, Nigeria before moving to Kent at a very young age.

He played just four games for the Three Lions all in 1991.

(5) John Fashanu:

John's case was different from the other players because he wanted to play for Nigeria but he was never given a chance to represent Nigeria.