The head coach of the senior national team of Benin Republic Gernot Rohr is still hopeful that former PSG defender Colin Dagba will accept the offer of switching nationality from France to his team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Despite representing France at U21 level Dagba is eligible for Benin Republic through his parents, but he has so far snub all the approaches made for him by Rohr since he became the coach of the team in 2023.
In August just before the AFCON Qualifiers game against Nigeria, Rohr revealed that he is in touch with the 25 year old over switching nationality but said he is focused on sorting his club future as he isn’t in the plans of Luis Enrique at the Ligue 1 giants.
“I’m still in touch with him. He wasn’t even on the provisional squad. He told me he’s not ready to come with us,” he disclosed.
“We hope he’ll end up saying yes. We have to give him time.”
“It’s like when you want to date a girl. The more you want to go for her, maybe the less she’ll want to. So, that’s the situation we’re in. Trust us and give him time to come by himself…”, he added.
With Dagba now playing for modest Belgium side Beerschot after terminating his contract with PSG , Rohr is optimistic that he will be available for the team when they world cup qualifiers resumes in March.
Benin Republic are currently third on the log in their world cup qualifiers group, but level on points with group leaders Rwanda and also second place South Africa. They are all 4 points clear of hot favorites Nigeria who are 5th with just three points.
Rohr feels Dagba’s case is similar to that of Ademola Lookman, the Atalanta star who snubbed him for two years, before he succeeded in wooing him to Nigeria from England just before he was sacked from his role as coach of the Nigerian team in 2021. He believes the defender will no doubt have a change of heart if the team maintain their current rise.
