The Super Eagles could see their ranks swelled with yet another foreign-born player with reports in England suggesting that teenage PSV Eindhoven star Noni Madueke is being courted by the Nigeria Football Federation.
According to the Daily Mail, 18-year-old Madueke who came through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur “is the latest target for Nigeria in their attempts to convince dual nationality English players to switch allegiances”.
Madueke has played for England from under-16 up to under-19 level but qualifies to represent Nigeria through his parents and the NFF wants to ensure he is kept out of the paws of the Three Lions by handing the teenager a senior international call up.
The NFF is reportedly particularly keen to cap the youngster after getting burned by England in the pursuit of talented Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka.
While England might be likely to hand him a call up to the U21 squad, Madueke is reportedly tempted by the more enticing prospect of playing for Nigeria who are reportedly willing to hand him a senior cap immediately.
Current NFF president Amaju Pinnick has been particularly keen to fast-track foreign-born talent into the Super Eagles with the approach yielding fruits in getting former England youngsters including Ola Aina, Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses to switch allegiance to the three-time African champions with Ademola Lookman another in the pipeline.
Recently, Pinnick has also facilitated the arrivals of Belgium-born Cyriel Dessers and Germany-born duo Kevin Akpoguma and Maduka Okoye to the Super Eagles joining the likes of Germany-born Leon Balogun and Dutch-born duo William Troost-Ekong and Tyronne Ebuehi in the squad.
Any senior call up for the prodigiously talented Madueke will have to wait until next year at the earliest with Eagles coach Gernot Rohr having already selected his squad ahead of their last international outing of the year, an AFCON qualifying doubleheader against Sierra Leone next week.
Madueke started out as an academy player at Spurs before leaving to join PSV in June 2018 in search of regular playing time – rejecting Manchester United in the process – and impressed for their youth sides before making his senior debut last season.
The forward is enjoying a breakout campaign this season after a stunning start in the Eredivisie and Europe that has seen him score four times and set up four more goals in just 11 appearances.
Remarkably, those numbers have come in only three starts and he delivered a reminder of his talent once again with a two-goal performance off the bench in PSV’s 4-0 win over Den Haag on Sunday.
It appears only a matter of time before fans of the Super Eagles get to see Madueke replicate these numbers in the green and white of the national side.
