Jordon Ibe commits to England future, says Oliseh

Liverpool youngster, Jordon Ibe, has committed his international future to England, according to Nigeria head coach Sunday Oliseh.

England manager, Roy Hodgson, is a big fan of the winger but has refused to call him up to the national team just to prevent him playing for Nigeria in the future.

But Nigeria coach Oliseh tweeted on Sunday that Ibe has opted for the English shirt instead.

“Jordon Ibe’s family informed me by a telephone call, that he was giving priority to an England call-up.We wish them well,” Oliseh said.

The 19-year-old has represented England at U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21 level, but is also eligible to play for Nigeria through his father.

Under FIFA regulations, Ibe won’t have committed to either nation until he has represented them in a senior international and this led recently to Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh making a personal appeal to him.

And though Hodgson is considering picking some new faces in the England squad to face Estonia and Lithuania in Euro 2016 qualifying in October, he won’t simply pick Ibe to end Nigeria’s hopes.

“My attitude for this is quite clear – I want players who want to play for England. I am not going to start making players English by giving them a few minutes in games,” Hodgson said.

“I want Jordon to fight for his place in the team like everybody else. He is certainly a player we like very much and certainly a player we have eyes on.

“It’s far from impossible that he gets called up in one of the next games. But if we do call him up it won’t be because we are worried about other nations.

“We’re England. And when it gets so bad that we can’t get enough players who want to play for England, who want to put the England shirt on, then we are in a difficult period.”

Hodgson also revealed that Steven Gerrard alerted him to the talent of Ibe a long time before he burst onto the Barclays Premier League scene.

“Many years ago Steven Gerrard mentioned Jordon. He wasn’t at Liverpool when I was there but Stevie, in one of the get-togethers, said we have this young lad who’s something special,” he said.

“He had the same feeling about Raheem Sterling too.”

With England safely through to next summer’s European Championships with eight wins from eight, Hodgson will experiment with his squad for the final two qualifiers and in the November friendlies with Spain and France.