Nigeria could loose Gboly Ariyibi to the United States after the 27 year old had an impressive individual season with his Turkish club MKE Ankaragucu.
MKE Ankaragucu finished the 2021/22 season on top of the Turkish second division table, earning promotion to the top flight as champions in the process.
One of the key contributors to Ankaragucu’s ascension to the Turkish Super Lig is Gboly Ariyibi, the American-born winger of Nigerian descent.
The 27-year-old forward only just joined the club last summer and featured in 30 out of 36 possible league games in what was a solid debut season in Turkish football which is now reportedly earning him international attention.
Gboly Ariyibi ended the season with three league goals but his talent is clearly beyond finding the back of the net as the winger is now said to have been contacted by the United States men’s national team in preparation for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Gboly was born in Arlington County, Virginia which makes him a United States citizen by birth under circumstances that could best be described as fortuitous.
Ms Agoro (Gboly’s mom) lived in Nigeria and would often visit her sister in the United States and it was on one of these trips that Gboly made his grand entrance into the world on the 18th of January 1995.
That makes him eligible to represent the ‘Land of the free and the home of the brave’ which he has done already, once at under 20 level and four times for the under 23s.
Though the man clearly loves Nigeria and has dreamt of representing the Super Eagles just like his idol Jay-Jay Okocha, it would be unfair to expect him to turn down a USA call-up in a World Cup year without assurances from Nigeria.