As the AFCON final draws closer, there will be no doubt in many minds that the ascent of the Nigerian super eagles have been largely helped by the EPL nurtured talents of Victor Moses & Jon Obi Mikel. The two Chelsea Fc stars have relatively starred at the tournament and with the help of their team mates reached the summit of the competition with an opportunity to win the competition for only the 3rd time in the affluent history.
The question that comes to mind is an interesting 1, are their more Victor Moses and Mikels around the English game at the moment? While the unpatriotic names of Danny Shittu, Shola Ameobi and Gabriel Agbonlahor comes to mind, the question is aimed at a younger developmental level.
With the diversity of Britain today, the answer is an obvious one. Lets start with the club that Victor Moses and Mikel currently play for Chelsea. The numbers of the potential next super eagles at Chelsea is quite remarkable.
While the 1st player that comes to mind; Dominic Solanke has already player for England albeit at u16s level, He is half Nigerian from his paternal side as his surname suggests. With England starting to create more top quality youngsters through the system, it wont be a surprise for him to opt to play for the Nigerian Super Eagles if English call ups at men's level don't materialise.
Amongst the other potential super eagles currently developing at CFC is Chike Kandi a player who is just starting to come into form at u18s level. Kandi has already represented Wales at youth level but has apparently declared an interest in playing for Nigerian junior teams.
A young Chelsea player that many Nigerians might already be familiar with is Habib Makanjuola a ball juggling protege that has somehow bucked the trend of ball jugglers not equating to good players. He unlike the others mentioned so far has lived the most of his life in Nigeria before being scouted and acquired.
Other youth players CFC can add to the ranks include Ike Ugbo, Fikayo Tomori and Ola Aina who is currently with the England youth squad competing in the Algarve tournament.
Joshua Adebayo & Joseph Adebayo once of Chelsea who now play for Southampton & Stoke City respectively are also players that can be added to the ever growing list of potential super eagles of the future. A look around other English clubs show many more players starting with our neighbours Arsenal.
Its not surprising that with the similar geographical locations there is a similar roll call at Arsenal. Players like Chuks Aneke, Alex Iwobi and Chuba Akpom are reported to have Nigerian ancestry or parents and are eligible to represent the super eagles amongst many others.
At Tottenham the names of Emmanuel Sonupe & Daniel Akindaniyi suggests that they might fill the same bill.
Without looking further afield it is quite evident that there is a plethora of eaglets in the English game that may one day grow wings big enough to be called a super eagle.
