Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha has revealed the reason behind his decision to shun an invitation from the Nigeria Football Federation.
Onuoha was born in Nigeria but relocated to England where he began his football career with Manchester City.
He rose from the academy to the first team and became an important player for the Cityzens.
His performance caught the attention of the Nigeria Football Federation who approached him twice, but he turned them down on both occasions.
Speaking with Sport Mole, Onuoha said he passed on the opportunity to play for Nigeria, to focus on his City career.
“In the lead up to the AFCON championships, you could hear how people were speaking ill of it, the timing of it, not taking it seriously and the like, and that frustrated me so I was continually pushing back, pushing back against it and initially when I was [at Man City] under Mancini, I said to Berti Vogts, the then Nigeria manager, that I couldn’t go because I wasn’t comfortable in my club position.
“[At the time, I felt] that you would fall down the pecking order if you decided to go and play for your national team. This would never be the case if you were playing for England or if you were playing for another European nation.”
Onuoha spent eight years with Manchester City, playing in 93 league fixtures.
He later joined Queens Park Rangers in 2012, where he played with then Super Eagles left-back Taye Taiwo.
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