England Head coach, Gareth Southgate has dismissed
suggestions he called up footballers Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori to the
England squad to face Czech Republic next week so they won't be able to play
again for Nigeria.
Chelsea players Abraham and Tomori have been in sensational
form this season and hail from Nigeria but are eligible to play for England as
they were born there, and according to FIFA rules, Abraham and Tomori can still
play for Nigeria even though they have played for the England youth teams- but
if they play for England's senior team they can't represent Nigeria again.
The Nigeria Football Federation have attempted to convince
both players to pledge their allegiance to the three-time African champions
without success and Southgate has revealed that it is morally wrong to cap-tie
both players just to prevent them from representing Nigeria.
Speaking to reporters after his squad announcement on
Thursday, Southgate said on Abraham : ''I haven't discussed it with him, I have
left Frank to have the conversation to let him know he's in the squad which is
always nice for a club manager to be able to do.
''We have got literally close to hundreds of players now in
our system with dual nationality so I don't think it is ethically right just to
give a player a cap to make sure they can't play for somebody else.''
He added : ''The two boys Fik and Tammy are in the squad
this time on merit.
''I am not going to guarantee that they are going to get on
the pitch but they have been part of our junior system, Fik came a little bit
later than Tammy but he's been part of the youth team that won the World Cup.
''As far as we are concerned, the two boys have been
developed through English football.
''They are English players and I'm sure they have huge
desire to play for England at senior level''.
