Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle can’t understand why Monaco forward George Ilenikhena is stalling on a decision to play for his team in favour of France, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Chelle is a huge fan of the 19 year old and met with him to discuss the idea of playing for Nigeria, but was told he is waiting for a call up to the French national team which looks a distant reality for now.
Last week European football governing body UEFA posted that Ilenikhena has smashed the record set by his fellow Nigerian Kanu Nwankwo in the tournament’s historyby becoming the youngest African player to reach 15 appearances in the competition.
Ilenikhena achieved the milestone at the age of 19 years and 157 days following his 18-minute appearance for Monaco in their 6-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
“George Ilenikhena makes history. Youngest African player to reach 15 UCL games,” UEFA announced on Wednesday.
However he has so far rebuffed approaches to play for Nigeria, despite the fact that he doesn’t have a French passport yet and currently registered as a Nigerian, using his Nigerian passport as his official registration document.
” He ( George) doesn’t have a French passport yet and still doesn’t know when he will get one. Remember he was born in Lagos and you can imagine how surprised the coach is, especially when a talent like Ibrahim Mbaye at PSG has already committed to PSG. It’s hard to understand for Chelle”.
