Bolton Wanderers’ Ameobi eyes World Cup place with Nigeria

Sammy Ameobi is hoping he can do enough for Bolton Wanderers to earn a place in Nigeria’s squad to the World Cup later in the year.

The former England U21 player pledged his allegiance to the Super Eagles in 2014 but is yet to feature for the three-time African champions.

Ameobi has scored three goals in 17 English Championship starts this season for Phil Parkinson’s side.

And with the World around the corner, the winger is hoping he can earn a place in Gernot Rohr’s team to the global showpiece provided he gets enough playing time at his cub.

“I want to solely represent Nigeria,” Ameobi told Bolton News.

“Hopefully that opportunity will come but it will only possibly happen if I play well on a weekly basis, which is what I am aiming to do here at Bolton Wanderers.

“With it being a World Cup year who knows what could happen?

“It would be great to be a part of that, but there’s a lot of hard work ahead for me if that’s even possible.

“It isn’t easy breaking into the international team. Shola did it and I can only hope to follow in his footsteps!”

Nigeria will be contending with Argentina, Iceland and Croatia in Group D for a chance to make it to the knock-out stage of the competition.