Sports

“It Was Really Hard To Choose Ghana After Receiving England Call-up

Published

3 weeks ago

September 6, 2023

Arsenal attacker Eddie Nketiah says it was really difficult for him to pick Ghana over England after he received his debut call-up from the English national team.

The 24-year-old English international has been included in a 26-man squad announced by Coach Gareth Southgate last week for England’s upcoming assignments in September.

The Three Lions will play two football matches this month, the first match will be a Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine on September 9, while the second remains a friendly against Scotland at Hampden Park three days later.

Speaking in a recent press conference, Eddie Nketiah said he has always wanted to play for England and described making it to the senior national team as a natural progression.

“I had an aspiration to play here and like I said once the call-up was there and the offer was on the table, it was really hard to turn down and I feel that it is the natural progression for me at this stage,” the Arsenal attacker said.

“And I felt now was the good time to make that step and obviously, I’m really happy to be here and hopefully, I can go one and help this team this week and get some caps” he added.

Meanwhile, Eddie Nketiah’s England invite nullifies any chance of him representing Ghana at international level.

Nketiah, who was raised in England but traces his roots to Ghana due to his parents, has been on the radar of the Ghana Football Association for years.

In November last year, the Arsenal player was in Ghana for vacation, which heightened speculation over his decision tilting towards the Black Stars team.

However, having now accepted to play for the English national team, it appears that chapter for him to play for Ghana is closed as he would now aim at grabbing a place in the Three Lions squad for Euro 2024.