England on red alert as Nigeria attempt to snare Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham

Tammy Abraham

Nigeria are attempting to persuade England striker Tammy Abraham to switch international allegiance.

The Chelsea forward has enjoyed a brilliant start to the 2019/20 campaign, scoring four goals in four Premier League games.

However, the 21-year-old was not included in Gareth Southgate's squad to face Bulgaria and Kosovo in the next few days.

Abraham played twice for England in November 2017, but neither match was a competitive fixture.

The London-born striker could therefore still declare for Nigeria, the country of his father's birth.

"We will not relent in our quest for good players to pay for the country and win laurels," said Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Pinnock. "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.”

England are currently top of their Euro 2020 qualification group with two wins from two.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).