Arsenal youth forward Nathan Butler-Oyedeji has revealed his eligibility for Nigeria and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with his international future still undetermined.
Arsenal 21-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji is yet to make his international debut, but the young forward has three options if and when he receives a call-up.
Born and raised in England, having officially played for the Arsenal academy since the age of eight, Butler-Oyedeji is obviously eligible to play for Gareth Southgate’s side. But a recent interview with Arsenal revealed his two alternative options.
“My family background is that my dad’s Nigerian and my mother is from St. Vincent,” Butler-Oyedeji explained. “The ‘Butler’ is from my mum’s side and ‘Oyedeji’ is from my dad’s side.”
As a result of that family background, Butler-Oyedeji would be eligible for either country’s national team, should they choose to select him.
That’s quite a diverse list of options, with England playing in the UEFA region with the European Championships, Nigeria playing in the CAF region with the Africa Cup of Nations, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines playing in the CONCACAF region, with the Gold Cup.
Saint Vincent have only once qualified for the Gold Cup (in 1996) since gaining independence, and they’ve never qualified for the World Cup.
But they do compete in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League, finishing second in their group in 2019/20, and fourth in 2022/23. Perhaps they would be the keenest to add Butler-Oyedeji to their ranks, to reverse the team’s recent fortunes.
At club level, Butler-Oyedeji spent the first half of the season out on loan with Cheltenham Town in League One, making 14 appearances before being recalled by Arsenal in January.
The youngster has returned to play in the Arsenal u21 team, scoring against Southampton and Chelsea among his five Premier League 2 appearances in the last couple of months.
“For the rest of the season, I’m just hoping to stay fit as always, train more with the first team and help out the team as much as I can,” Butler-Oyedeji told Arsenal.com.
“Always staying ready because you never know when you can be called upon, I really want to push on in my career.”