Having starred for both England and Germany at age-grade level, but can still play for the country of his father at senior level, Nigeria football authority is courting German-born Lukas Nmecha to play for the senior national team, the Super Eagles. Will the three times African champions be the third country the Anderlecht loanee would be starring for?
Lukas Nmecha, who was born in Hamburg, originally began his international youth career with England, turning out for the Young Lions at all age groups between U-16 and U-21.
The striker qualified through residential purposes, having moved to the UK with his family at a young age, enrolling in City’s academy.
He scored England’s winner at the U-19 Euros in 2017 and Germany’s winner in the U-21 Euros last week and now Nigeria, the country of his fatherland, want Manchester City starlet Lukas Nmecha to play for them at senior international level.
Nmecha caught the eye for Germany at the U-21 European Championships and the striker scored the winning goal in the final and finished as the top goalscorer.
Nigeria, the birth place of his father, want to convince him to switch allegiances.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been trying to convince the Manchester City starlet to switch his national allegiances – a move that would see the young striker turn out for a third country.
Nmecha caught the eye at the U-21 European Championships, scoring the winning goal in the final for Germany against Portugal, as well as finishing as the tournament’s top goalscorer.
Nmecha scored the winner for England’s U-19s in their European Championship final in 2017, also against Portugal.
However, according to BILD, a third country has now come forward to ask for his services, with the Super Eagles looking to convince him to switch once more.
The 22-year-old qualifies through his father, who was born in Nigeria.
Nmecha has impressed this season while on loan at Anderlecht in Belgium’s top flight.
Nmecha scored the winning goal for Germany in the U-21 European Championship final.
The forward scored 19 goals in all competitions for Vincent Kompany’s men as they finished fourth in the league.
His performances have attracted interest from across the continent, and it is reported that Pep Guardiola could be ready to cash in on Nmecha’s success.
Rated at around £7 million, it is thought City could be set to offload the academy graduate in a bid to raise funds for Erling Haaland.
The Nigeria Football Federation is taking steps to convince young Manchester City striker to commit his international future to his father’s place of birth.
Born in Hamburg to a German mother and a Nigerian father, Nmecha is eligible to play for both nations and England, where he relocated to as a child with his family.
Last year, Nmecha declared for Germany and was instantly included in their U-21 squad for the first time.
He became a hero a few weeks later when he scored four goals and emerged top scorer at the 2021 UEFA European U-21 Championship final to power Germany to the title. Nmecha scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Portugal in the final of that competition.
Highly rated at City, Nmecha was sent to Anderlecht on loan last season and the young forward impressed as he scored 21goals in 41 games in all competitions for the Belgian giants.
His performances for club and country have kept him under the radar of both England and Germany, but none of the two European nations has given him assurances for the senior team.
The Manchester City youth product will not be at the Euro 2021 with any team.
Nmecha could, however, consider switching his international allegiance to Nigeria, with the African nation already qualified for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations and favourites to make it to the FIFA World Cup next year.
Shortly after he had moved from his birthplace, Hamburg, to northwest England with his Nigerian father and German mother, Nmecha’s talent was spotted by City, who quickly signed up the then nine-year-old, and the English Premier League champions have carefully honed that ability since. A Carabao Cup appearance in December 2017 marked his first-team debut for City, and was followed by two brief top-flight outings before he joined the senior squad for their 2018 summer tour of the USA.
Pep Guardiola is impressed, especially as Nmecha happily allies his natural talent with an awareness that he still has much to learn. “Lukas has great prospects,” said Guardiola. “He’s hungry, he takes in everything you tell him.”
Guardiola is not the only one who has made an impact and had an impact made on Nmecha at City. “Vincent Kompany roughs me up in training but he’s really given me a lot of confidence because he’s played against the best strikers in the world and he’s telling me I can make it,” said Nmecha, who revealed the City icon now the Anderlecht coach regards him as “a little brother.”
“Kompany has told me what he doesn’t like playing against. If I hold it up against him I might lose the battle, so it’s more about running in behind and using my pace,” explained Nmecha. “I like going up against centre-halves, but I also like playing so I don’t want to overdo it. I don’t just want to be the big guy up front.”
Being taken into the mind of the defender by Kompany will only serve to make Nmecha a more formidable goalgetter. He struck 28 times at U-18, U-19 and U-21 level during the 2017/18 season, more than any other player in his age category in England. When he replaced his idol Sergio Aguero for the summer tour of the USA at the end of that campaign, he scored again in a 3-2 win over a Bayern.
While his younger brother Felix, who is also on City’s books, chose to represent Germany, Lukas initially wore England’s Three Lions, but come the 2019 U-21 EURO last summer after three U-21 outings for England Nmecha was in a Germany shirt.
“I see Germany as my home. I lived in Hamburg until I was nine, and still have a strong connection to the city and the people. I spoke about it with my mum, who is from Mönchengladbach,” he explained, adding a visit from Germany’s U-21 coach Stefan Kuntz to the Nmecha home in Manchester had played a major role.
“It was cool,” said Nmecha. “My dad cooked for him and we watched the Champions League game between Manchester City and Schalke.” By March 2019, Nmecha was making his U-21 debut for Germany, ironically against England in Bournemouth.
Nigeria have had difficulty convincing Crystal Palace’s Ebere Eze to play for the Super Eagles in recent times. But thanks to Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi, William Troost-Ekong, among others, the NFF has a decent history of getting players of Nigerian descent to play for their father’s land.
How well the federation can convince Lukas remains to be seen.
