Former Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, has stated that Aston Villa’s new signing Tammy Abraham had previously agreed to play for the Super Eagles but later changed his mind regarding his international future.
After spells with AS Roma, AC Milan, and Beşiktaş, Abraham returned to English football during the January transfer window, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
The forward was born in London and was eligible to represent Nigeria through his father.
However, he eventually decided to dedicate his international career to his country of birth, becoming capped by England after appearing in a European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic.
Pinnick disclosed that he had made substantial efforts to convince Abraham to switch allegiance to Nigeria before the striker was linked to the Three Lions.
The former NFF boss also thought that his good relationship with Abraham’s father would be important in influencing the decision, but this did not turn out to be true. Speaking on The Playzone and Dangolo Way podcast, Pinnick reflected on Nigeria’s efforts to recruit foreign-born players and stressed the long-term value of international football to a player’s career.
“Iwobi is playing for the Super Eagles today. I know the role we played. If Iwobi had played for England, he would have stopped playing for England five or six years ago,” Pinnick said.
“If your football club doesn’t support you, your national team will. The display at the last Africa Cup of Nations was notable. Pinnick mentioned that talks with Tammy Abraham were progressing positively before the striker changed his mind.
“Tammy Abraham, we sat like this. We had agreed that he would come to play, but at the last moment he changed his decision.”
The former NFF president expressed regret about the outcome, suggesting that Abraham’s career could have taken a different path if he had chosen Nigeria.
“Now he’s 28 and has returned to Aston Villa, but I can tell you that I regret it. I spoke to his father, we grew up together.
“He would have played for Nigeria. Agbonlahor played three games and that was it.”
Abraham has earned 11 caps for England, scoring three goals, but has not appeared for the Three Lions since a UEFA Nations League match against Italy in June 2022.
