Ibe turns down Nigeria offer
With the Europa League about to begin and key injuries affecting Liverpool’s squad depth, younger players will get plenty of opportunities to play and impress. Perhaps with that in mind, Jordon Ibe has decided to end the uncertainty regarding his national team future.
The 19-year-old has opted to commit to England rather than his father’s home nation of Nigeria.
Even though Ibe has already represented England at youth level, Nigeria national team coach Sunday Oliseh reportedly traveled to Melwood in an attempt to convince Ibe to suit up for the Super Eagles.
Oliseh’s recent tweet confirms that he was unsuccessful.
Jordon Ibe’s Family Informed me by a Telephone call, that He was giving priority to an England call up.We wish them well. — Sunday Oliseh (@SundayOOliseh) September 13, 2015
Ibe joined Liverpool from Wycombe Wanderers in 2012 and spent time on loan to Birmingham and Derby.
He was recalled last January and made 19 appearances for the Reds last season and has played in all five games in the current campaign.
Despite having not scored a goal for the Liverpool first team, Ibe is very much on England manager Roy Hodgson’s radar. The former Liverpool boss said:
He is certainly a player we like very much and certainly a player we have our eyes on. It’s far from impossible that he will get called up in one of the next games.
With England having already secured qualification for next summer’s Euro 2016 tournament, it will be interesting to see if Ibe gets called up for next month’s games against Estonia and Lithuania.