Former Super Eagles striker and coach, Samson Siasia, has claimed that most Europe-born players currently representing Nigeria only do so because they were not given the opportunity to play for other countries.

Speaking on UTVAfrica with Emmanuel Babayaro, Siasia contrasted the pathway of players from his generation with that of today’s national team stars.

According to him, players in his era built their careers at home before moving abroad and later returned to feature for the Super Eagles, unlike the current trend of drafting in players born and raised overseas.

“The crop of players we had during that era, 1990–1998, were great players that left the shores of Nigeria, went to Europe and came back, not now that we are bringing in players from Europe to come and play for Nigeria – two different things,” Siasia said.

“Kids that were born in Europe or went at an early age doing well for their clubs are back to play for the national team. If they had a chance to play for a European country, great players, they won’t come. We struggled and made it to Europe but they were born.”

A significant number of today’s Super Eagles squad members were born abroad, including Alex Iwobi, William Troost-Ekong, Ademola Lookman, Ola Aina, Jamilu Collins, and Felix Agu, among others.

Siasia suggested that most of them might never have represented Nigeria if they had been considered good enough to feature for European national teams at the top level.