Gareth Southgate speaks out on Tammy Abraham situation as Nigeria target England striker

Nigeria want to recruit Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, as he is eligible to play for them through parentage but England manager Gareth Southgate is confident that he will commit to the Three Lions. England boss Southgate said: “I think with Tammy, he’s a young player that we’ve always liked, we know he’ll score goals. We felt [that it was a] bit early this time, but we really can see that he can offer us something moving forward. We obviously gave him a cap back in November of 2017. So, for sure, we need to make certain that he feels that the opportunity is going to be there. I’m pretty sure he does, he knows us well enough.” Abraham has told the Super Eagles he will not give them a final decision until April as he ponders his international career. Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Pinnock said: “We will not relent in our quest for good players to pay for the country and win laurels. We will keep talking to good players of Nigerian descent to play for their Fatherland. But these kids are very independent-minded. We have been told to wait until April 2020, when he hopes to make a final decision on the matter. I told him that he had a better chance of playing regularly for Nigeria than with England, which has a galaxy of strikers.”

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