By John Ogunsemore
Nigeria is blessed with enormous human and material resources, ensuring the nation is never short of talent in every facet of human endeavour.
In football, Nigeria has produced many great and internationally-acclaimed stars who played for the Super Eagles, including Nwankwo Kanu and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha.
The nation has also missed out on some awesome footballers in recent times who could not don the green-white-green despite being of Nigerian descent.
Of course, the diaspora of Nigerian talent is vast and many players have been “lost” to other nations due to dual nationality or better opportunities abroad.
These players often chose the country of their birth or upbringing due to early integration into those nations’ youth systems or personal preference.
Daily Sun examines five such players:
David Alaba
Alaba, 32, plays as a defender or midfielder for the Austrian national team and Real Madrid.
Born in Vienna, Austria, to a Nigerian father and Filipino mother, Alaba joined the Bayern Munich youth system before being promoted to the reserve team for the 2009–10 season.
After a loan spell with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, he returned to Bayern for the 2011-2012 season, going on to become a regular at the German giants and one of the best left-backs in the world.
Alaba made over 400 appearances for Bayern Munich, winning 27 honours, including ten Bundesliga titles and two UEFA Champions League titles in 2013 and 2020.
He signed for Real Madrid in 2021, winning the 2021–22 La Liga, Supercopa and Champions League titles in his debut season.
Alaba debuted for Austria aged 17 in 2009 and is the second youngest player to play for their senior national team.
In 2013, Alaba told an Austrian news medium that he would have played for the Super Eagles but was denied by a stringent eligibility rule by Nigerian football officials.
Tammy Abraham
Abraham, 27, plays as a striker for England and AC Milan.
Born in Camberwell, London, to Nigerian parents, Abraham is a graduate of the Chelsea academy and made his debut for the club in 2016.
He joined Aston Villa in 2018 and became the first player since 1977 to score 25 goals in a single league campaign for the club.
Abraham returned to Chelsea in 2019, recording 18 goals during their 2019–20 campaign, lifting the 2020 UEFA Champions League under manager Thomas Tuchel.
He joined Roma for a €40 million fee in 2021 and scored 17 goals in his debut Serie A season, a record high for an Englishman.
He also won the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League with the club.
Abraham made his debut for the England senior national team in November 2017. He previously played for England under-18 level and featured at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland.
In 2017, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) made efforts to convince Abraham to play for the Super Eagles, but he ultimately chose to commit his international future to the Three Lions.
However, he has not hidden his admiration for Nigerian dishes and culture.
Ross Barkley
Ross Barkley, 31, plays as a midfielder for England and Aston Villa.
Born in Liverpool, Barkley is of Nigerian descent through his paternal grandfather and bears his mother’s maiden name instead of his father’s name, Effanga.
He began playing for Everton in 2010, going on to score 27 goals in 179 appearances.
He signed for Chelsea in 2018 and won the FA Cup in 2018, the UEFA Europa League in 2019, and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021.
Having gone through the ranks at the youth levels, Barkley made his debut for the England senior national team in 2013.
He played for the Three Lions at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and was selected in the 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016.
Barkley has raked up 33 caps for England but last played in 2019.
Fikayo Tomori
Tomori, 27, plays as a centre-back for England and AC Milan.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Nigerian parents, he made his debut for Canada’s U-20 in 2016 but switched allegiance to England the same year.
Having gone through the U19, U20, and U21, he was called up for England’s senior national team in 2019.
At club level, Tomori was signed to Chelsea between 2016 and 2021, raking up 17 appearances in-between loan spells at Brighton, Hull City and Derby County.
In January 2021, he joined AC Milan on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season with an option to buy.
Six months later, he signed a permanent deal with Milan until June 30, 2025, which was extended in August 2022 to June 2027.
Tomori was one of two central defenders named in the 2021–22 Serie A Team of the Year by the Italian Footballers’ Association in October 2022.
In October 2019, the defender said he could have played for the Super Eagles or Canada had they extended an invitation to him before the Three Lions.
He has expressed disappointment with his continued exclusion from the England national team despite his impressive performances in Serie A.
Dele Alli
Alli was born in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, to a Nigerian father and an English mother.
The 29-year-old plays as an attacking midfielder for Italian side Como, but gained global stardom playing at Tottenham Hotspur.
Alli joined the youth system at Milton Keynes Dons aged 11 and joined Spurs in February 2015.
He was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year and made the PFA Team of the Year in his first two campaigns at White Hart Lane.
Alli formed a great partnership with Harry Kane and was regarded as one of the best players in the world at the time.
He scored 67 goals and provided 61 assists in 269 appearances for the club, but battled poor form and frosty relationships with managers José Mourinho and Antonio Conte towards the end of his stay at the club.
He joined Everton in January 2022 and later that year joined Beşiktaş on loan, but failed to hit his early Spurs form.
Alli played for the England U17, U18 and U19 teams before making his senior debut in 2015.
He was selected for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, scoring in the latter and helping England to the semi-finals.