The Bursaspor defender, Taye Taiwo has expressed his willingness to return to the Super Eagles if given a chance.
The former Olympic Marseille of France player has appeared for the national team 53 times but has been shut out of the team since coach Stephen Keshi took over as coach.
Taiwo who has never hidden his passion to play for the Eagles feels his playing regularly in the Turkish top flight is a testimony that he is still active and won’t mind getting an invite to represent Nigeria.
“I’m still very much in active football. At my club I play regularly and my manager keeps wondering why I’ve been shut out of the Nigeria national team,” Taiwo said.
“I am a Nigerian and if given the opportunity to do so, I will definitely do that with open arms. Why not? I will surely come. This is my country and I will never turn down any invitation because that has always been my priority.”
Reputed for his prowess at free kicks due to his powerful left foot, the defender feels Nigeria is missing a lot of attributes.
“Most times, when we lose set pieces during international games, I feel very bad because I would have scored if I was there,” he said.
The 2006 CAF Young Player of the Year also dismissed claims that he had issues with Keshi which could have been responsible for his national team blackout.
“At Dynamo Kiev, I called to congratulate him on his appointment and expressed my willingness to be a part of his team, he assured me all would be well but till date, he never deemed it fit to send me an invite to the national team,” he continued.
“He would not pick my calls and I kept wondering what was wrong. Anyway, I still respect him and I can tell you that I don’t have any issues with him, his assistants and those at the Nigeria Football Federation.”
On the inability of the reigning African champions to make it to Equatorial Guinea 2015, the former Olympique Marseille defender said it was a tragedy for the country despite tipping them to successfully defend their crown following their exploits at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“It is a big disaster that the Super Eagles failed to make the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
“After our performance at the World Cup, I had boasted to my African teammates that Nigeria would successfully defend the title but unfortunately, we missed out. It’s a big shame,” he concluded.
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