The Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong, has revealed that a phone call from late coach Stephen Keshi and the prospect of international football at age 21 influenced his decision to represent Nigeria instead of his country of birth, the Netherlands, PUNCH Sports reports.
The Al-Kholood defender, speaking on the Sports Afterparty Podcast, explained that the opportunity to play for Nigeria came at a crucial point in his career.
“Just at the start of the season, I had played for the Dutch U19 and U20 squads, but there was no real perspective yet for the first team,” Troost-Ekong said.
“The choice was between trying to progress and later in my career maybe have a chance to play for the Netherlands or have a chance now to play for the Super Eagles, who were kind of going through a transition stage where a lot of their defenders at that time were a little bit older, so I knew that they wanted to make some changes there.”
The…