Former England youth international forward Chuba Akpom has switched allegiance to the senior national team of Nigeria with his sight set on making the squad to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Greek side PAOK snapped up 23 year old Akpom from Arsenal permanently in the summer after six different loan spells during his time at the club, where he failed to make the step up to the main team unlike his childhood friend Alex Iwobi.
At PAOK he isn’t fully settled yet but he has already found the back of the net twice in six league games this season, overall he has played in 12 games this season in all competitions.
Akpom in an interview with Goal.com Chris Wheatley revealed his major aim is to get sufficient game time at PAOK between now and the end of the season to help his cause to join Iwobi in the senior national team of Nigeria, particularly at next year Africa Cup of Nations.
Although he has represented England 40 times at youth levels he is now fully committed to Nigeria despite initially snubbing overtures from the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) to switch allegiance to the Nigerian team.
“Yeah definitely, it’s just a matter of getting game time for my club, scoring a few goals and getting some good performances in. Nigeria have qualified for the African Nations Cup so that’d be great if I get called up but my main focus is to put my head down and put some good performances down for my club”, he told Goal.com.
