Why I Snubbed Super Eagles For Man City- Nedum Onuoha

Former English professional player, Nedum Onuoha has confessed he snubbed the offer to play for the Super Eagles because he was afraid of losing his Manchester City spot.

Following a breakthrough at City, the Warri-born became a regular for the England U20s and 21s, representing them 21 times in four years.

Though the defender longed for a call from the three-time AFCON winners, he declined the offer presented by the then Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts ahead of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking to Sports Mole, the 35-year-old explained that at that time, deciding to leave England to play for one’s national team was synonymous to falling down the ”pecking order”

“In the lead up to the AFCON championships, you could hear how people were speaking ill of it, the timing of it, not taking it seriously and the like, and that frustrated me so I was continually pushing back, pushing back against it and initially when I was [at Man City] under Mancini, I said to Berti Vogts, the then Nigeria manager, that I couldn’t go because I wasn’t comfortable in my club position.

“[At the time, I felt] that you would fall down the pecking order if you decided to go and play for your national team. This would never be the case if you were playing for England or if you were playing for another European nation.”