24 year old Leicester City defender Caleb Okoli made a big mistake turning down Nigeria when he was approached by former coach Jose Peseiro according to a source close to the Portuguese, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Okoli was a target for Peseiro who was in charge of the Super Eagles, and the coach confirmed that he will try to convince the then U21 international of Italy, who was a teammate of Ademola Lookman back then at Atalanta to consider Nigeria.
Peseiro told TMW in November 2022: “We want to convince him to play for Nigeria. We will try.
“After this friendly match against Portugal, there will be time to talk to him and to understand his decision. Whether he wants to play with us or not.
“I will talk to him through (Ademola) Lookman’s brokerage. I will show him my model, what I think of him, the project we can have together with Nigeria.”
However Okoli rejected the overtures to focus on progressing through the youth ranks of Italy, but that dream now seem like a distant reality as he is presently in the English Championship with Leicester City.
” Okoli made a mistake, a big one because Peseiro had high hopes on him after watching him play for Atalanta. He was supposed to be the man that replaces William Troost-Ekong who was not in good terms with Peseiro”, a source revealed.
” He (Okoli) refused the option of switching to Nigeria and maybe that’s way he is in the second division in England. Imagine if he had switched to Nigeria at the age of 20?. I wish him all the best”, he stated.
