NFF president Pinnick meets with Ebere Eze in London as NFF steps up pursuit of playmaker

NIGERIAN Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has met with Queens Park rangers (QPR) playmaker Ebere Eze in London in a last-ditch attempt to get him to switch his allegiance to the Super Eagles.

Linked with a possible move to Tottenham Hotspur as a replacement for want-away Danish skipper Christian Erickson, Ebere has been in scintillating form for English Championship side QPR this season. Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has been after him for a while now but so too have England, who have capped him at the U20 level, meaning that even if Eze wants to play for Nigeria now, he will have to go through a Fifa switch.

Such switches can take up to a year to complete but Mr Pinnick is keen to start the process immediately, so met with Ebere, 21, yesterday to convince him to opt for Nigeria instead of England. On Friday, Mr Pinnick flew to London to watch QPR take on Fulham in the English Championship, in a game where Eze played the full 90 minutes.

Being touted as a midfielder in the mould of the legendary Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Eze is seen as Nigeria's ideal playmaker, who can create goals for her forwards like Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Samuel Kalu. Mr Pinnick, who had earlier has met with Eze’s father to talk him round, has now held discussions with the player himself at his London home.

During  the meeting, Ebere apparently asked to be allowed to continue to focus on his club career for now and make a decision later on. Players who the NFF has successfully got to switch their allegiance through Fifa in the past include Ola Aina, Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses, while the likes of William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Joe Aribo, Maduka Okoye, Bryan Idowu and Tyrone Ebuehi, were eligible to play for the Super Eagles straight away because they had not featured for the countries of their birth before.