[dropcap]E[/dropcap]DDIE Nketiah and Tariq Lamptey are reportedly close to becoming eligible to play for Ghana.
The pair, who have 56 caps for England’s youth teams between them, have been in talks with the Ghanaian FA, who have recently appointed Chris Hughton as technical director.
Nketiah and Lamptey were born in London but have Ghanaian heritage and will find international opportunities easier to come by with the African country.
According to Ghana Soccernet, they are two of three players who will get clearance from FIFA as early as next week.
The report adds that the Ghanaian FA are finding it harder to process the proposed nationality switches of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has made three senior appearances for England, and one-cap Spain international Inaki Williams.
If Nketiah and Lamptey gain eligibility as expected, they will be in line to make their debuts in September and could feature at the World Cup in the winter.
Ghana have stepped up their efforts to convince players to switch allegiance since they qualified for the tournament in Qatar by beating Nigeria in a play-off in March. They will face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in the group stages.
Arsenal striker Nketiah is the all-time record goalscorer for England’s under-21s with 16 in 17 appearances but a chance in Gareth Southgate’s senior squad has not arrived.
Meanwhile, Brighton full-back Lamptey appeared for the under-21s as recently as March, but turned down a call-up from Lee Carsley for this month’s European Championship qualifiers.
‘He’s asked to be left out of the squad for a bit of head space,’ Carsley told the British Daily Mail newspaper.
‘He’s not switched, it’s not cemented or anything like that but he’s had an approach, we respect that.
‘We’ve made it clear how important we see him to us. I know the senior team has as well. Tariq is fully aware of how important we see him – I have rung him every day!
‘I probably shouldn’t have, I probably pushed him. You can only make it clear so many times. He knows where we stand with him. We respect he’s got a decision to make.’
