<
>

Tammy Abraham denies he's made decision on switching to Nigeria

Tammy Abraham has underlined his commitment to having an international career with England, amid Nigeria's efforts to convince him to switch allegiance.

The Nigeria Football Federation revealed earlier on Thursday that Abraham recently met with president Amaju Pinnick, who was also quoted in The Sun as saying the 19-year-old had agreed to play for the Super Eagles.

But Abraham refuted that claim, saying in a statement: "Contrary to reports in the media today I would like to clarify that I have not agreed to switch my national team allegiance.

"I can confirm I met the President of the NFF after our last game against Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday given he is a friend of my father.

"However, any suggestion that I have made a decision to change my international representation is incorrect and wide of the mark.

"I have informed The FA that I remain available for selection for England."

Pinnick said earlier this month that the NFF was "working on getting Abraham," who is spending this season on loan at Swansea from Chelsea.

Abraham was born in England and has represented the nation at under-18, U19 and U21 levels, but is eligible to play for Nigeria as his father was born there.

"Most recently, there was a meeting with Tammy, which Tammy's agent, Neil Fewills, also attended," Pinnick told the NFF's website. "It was a useful meeting, and I can say the talks are at an appreciable level now and all is looking good.

"Tammy is like a son to me, because his father was my childhood friend. I believe he is a good prospect for the Super Eagles and the effort is well worth it."

The NFF statement added that a source that attended the meeting confirmed that Nigeria international and Chelsea wing-back Victor Moses dropped in "to lend a voice to the call for Tammy" to make the switch.

Abraham's words will be welcomed by club boss Paul Clement, who said he wanted him to stick with England.

"For me, from my point of view, I hope he stays with the English national team," Clement said. "I'm not sure he'd be better off career-wise, I'm saying it because I'm English and he's a good English talent, so you want him involved with your national team.

"Ultimately, it's the decision of the player. In some cases, they'll make the choice because they see a better opportunity, a chance of playing more regularly at international level and in other cases, it's because it's where they believe they're from and they want to represent the country where they were born or where their parents were born and it's in their culture. Whatever their reasons are, it's down to the player to decide.

"The fact that he's come through the English system, first at Academy level and also playing for the English national teams, I think that puts them at an advantage."

Clement has been happy with his contribution in South Wales so far, and is confident there is more to come.

He said: "He has made the biggest step of his career. I'm not surprised how he's done so far, I think he's done fine and he's going to get better and better.

"The biggest step in going to the Premier League. You see it so many times, young players making the step and how difficult it is, how difficult it is for foreign players to come over and make that step into this league.

"He's done lots of good things and he's done some things where he could have improved, but he's in a good environment to get the right kind of help. Myself, the coaches work with all our players helping them get better at what they're not so good at."