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| Tammy Abraham (L) and Fikayo Tomori - Getty Images |
Chelsea's Tammy Abraham as stated that England was always his choice and that his commitment to the three lions was never negotiable, despite the claims by Amaju Pinnick that the Chelsea youngster nursed Nigerian ambitions.
"I'm a player growing up in England, playing in the Premier League. My ambitions were always to play for England. Obviously it's nice to be wanted by two nations, two nations that I love. But my main focus is and has always been England," he said.
"For me, it's a massive achievement [to be in the England squad]. I'm clearly doing something right for my club to get attention from Gareth Southgate. It's about going out there, helping the team as much as possible. And then coming back and doing the same job for my club."
As things stand, the 22-year-old is still eligible to represent Nigeria, however, he will end the uncertainty surrounding his international future if a competitive outing for England is taken in during their upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Abraham already has two senior caps to his name, but they were collected during friendly outings against Germany and Spain in November 2017.
His form at Chelsea has brought him back into the reckoning and a man who has worked hard to reach this point, taking in a number of loan spells along the way, is determined to become a mainstay in Gareth Southgate's plans.
The time has definitely come for the Amaju Pinnick-led Nigerian FA to focus on developing the local league as well as our home-based talent. The latter are just as good, if not better than the likes of Abraham and Tomori et al, who have no real desire to play for Nigeria, as they were groomed and cultured in England and the other European countries their parents emigrated to.
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