Pesiero turns to Fulham's Tosin Adarabioyo in desperation as he faces a centreback crisis

SUPER Eagles head coach Jose Pesiero is being forced to step up his interest in Fulham centreback Tosin Adarabioyo given the dearth of depth in the heart of Nigeria's defence at the moment with all of her central defenders facing one problem of the other.

Born in Manchester, Tosin has represented England youth teams in the past, so getting him to plat for Nigeria at senior level will require him going through a Fifa switch. In the past, he has not shown any inclination to feature for the Super Eagles but Mr Pesiero may now have to turn to him ahead of the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Guinea-Bissau.

All of Nigeria's other centrebacks are struggling for playing time with their clubs, except skipper William Troost-Ekong, 29, of Serie A club Salernitana but he is currently out injured. Leon Balogun (34), Chigozie Awaziem (26) and Kenneth Omeruo (29) are all struggling for playing time with their clubs, meaning they are likely to be match rusty.

Adarabioyo, 25  remains committed to England  according to Gbolahan Adarabioyo, his agent and brother. He pointed out that the Augustine Eguavoen, the Nigerian Football, Federation's technical adviser's recent visit to Selhurst Park to watch a match between Crystal Palace and Fulham, did not involve Tosin being invited to the Super Eagles camp.

Gbolahan said: "The long and short of it is that he has not switched from England to Nigeria. It is very unlikely that he would accept an invitation to play for Nigeria this month.

"That is not to say that Tosin would not consider playing for Nigeria in future but at this moment, no. Augustine Eguavoen is a friend and he asked to come and watch the game at Selhurst Park not for any particular reason."