Ireland poised to battle Nigeria for the services of Southampton teenager Michael Obafemi

IRELAND are poised to battle Nigeria for the services of promising Southampton teenager Michael Obafemi after the youngster made his premiership debut over the weekend in the Saints' 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspurs.

Obafemi, 17, was introduced in place of Manolo Gabbiadini by Southampton manager Mauricio Pelligrino nine minutes before the end of the game yesterday.  During his debut, the striker who scored a hat trick for Southampton's U18s side in December almost scored the winner towards the end of the match.

He used his pace to get behind the Spurs defence but his touch was not sufficient enough to divert the well delivered cross from Dusan Tadic on target. using his right foot instead of his left, Obafemi could only connect with his heel, thus blazing the ball wide despite Michael Vorm, the Spurs goalkeeper being beaten.

Obafemi has played at Under-17 level for Ireland but he still remain eligible for Nigeria at senior level and with the current drive by Gernot Rohr to lure players of Nigerian descent born abroad , his name could be added to the list. Since taking over the Super Eagles job in 2016, Mr Rohr has stepped up the search for players born in diaspora, getting several of them to switch their allegiance to Nigeria.

Among the players that have opted to play for Nigeria under Rohr's new policy include Carl Iheme, Tyronne Ebuehi, Brian Idowu, William Ekong, Leon Balogun and Alex Iwobi. Mr Rohr is still trying to woo other disaporans like Felix Uduokhai and Kevin Akpoguma who both play in Die Bundesliga and are eligible to play for Germany.