Time With the Super Eagles next engaging in March against Guinea-Bissau in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, fans are already advocating for Middlesbrough striker Chuba Akpom’s invitation to the national team, reports PUNCH Sports Extra.
Born in London to Nigerian parents, Akpom can represent England and Nigeria.
He represented England at youth levels, but announced in 2019 that he had switched his international allegiance to Nigeria at senior level.
Akpom’s meteoric rise this season has surprised many, as the Arsenal academy graduate continued to score goals with reckless abandon, with the burgeoning 27-year-old under Michael Carrick this term.
Since the former Manchester United midfielder took over at the Riverside last October, Akpom has scored 10 goals in 11 games in all competitions.
Overall, the Super Eagles hopeful has scored 15 goals this season for the Championship side, making him the club’s top scorer.
While the Eagles have a range of attacking talent, fans believe the former Arsenal man deserved an invite to the national team.
“Looking at all the players we have at the moment, I think only Victor Osimhen has an advantage over Akpom and I think he deserves to be invited to the team,” Ethan Ajegunma told PUNCH Sports Extra.
Seun Popoola added: “It would be unfair if, based on Akpom’s performance this season so far, he is still not invited to the Eagles. He has worked very hard and now it is paying off. He is one of our top scorers in Europe at the moment and I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be called up to the team.”
Defending the Boro striker, Rita Daniels said: “He may be playing in the Championship, which for me is an even tougher league to survive, and yet he’s scoring goals for fun.
“In my opinion, only Osimhen is ahead of Akpom at the moment, although we have (Paul) Onuachu scoring in Belgium.”
Paul Vinabrede stated: “It still baffles me how he hadn’t been invited yet, but we can make excuses for the coaches in the past because he wasn’t at this level at the time, but at this point he deserves a call-up.”
