Super Eagles manager Jose Peseiro has admitted that it will be difficult to convince SC Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu to switch his international allegiance from Germany to Nigeria.
The Portuguese football tactician has a goalkeeping crisis on his hands ahead of the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and 2023 Africa Cup of Nations as his current crop of goalkeepers are either lacking match fitness or off form.
Omonia Nicosia’s Francis Uzoho and Udinese’s Maduka Okoye have been inactive for their respective clubs this season, while Hapoel Jerusalem’s Adebayo Adeleye has been heavily criticized for his performances in the new season so much so that manager Ziv Arie is considering dropping him from the starting lineup.
In the search for a reliable goalkeeper, Atubolu fits the bill as he is young and plays for a club in Europe’s top five leagues, but it is known that the 21-year-old is leaning towards representing Germany’s senior national team as was the case with Jordan Torunarigha and Kevin Akpoguma who later went on to play for the Super Eagles.
Atubolu has caps for Germany at U17, U19, U20 and U21 national teams and became provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth in May 2019 when he started against Austria at the 2019 U17 Euro.
According to Germany-based Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba, he had a conversation with Jose Peseiro and brought up Noah Atobulu, but the Super Eagles coach and his staff believe it could be challenging to convince him to switch to Nigeria due to his talent and prospects with the German national team.
Akatugba went on to say that Peseiro promised to work on convincing Atubolu to change his nationality, but didn’t appear entirely convinced that the Freiburg goalkeeper would switch his allegiance to the three-time African champions.
Atubolu was installed as first-choice goalkeeper at Freiburg this season following the sale of Netherlands international Mark Flekken to Premier League club Brentford.
The German-Nigerian gloveman has posted four clean sheets in ten all-competition appearances for Freiburg in 2023-2024.
