I Was Asked To Pay £5000 To Play For Nigeria – ex-Chelsea star Sarki reveals

Emmanuel Sarki, a former Nigeria youth international, has revealed why he left the country to play for Haiti.

Sarki shone with the younger teams, including the Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles, and U-23s.

The Kaduna-born winger appeared destined for the Super Eagles, but he was called up to the Haitian national team in 2014.

This was his first call-up to the Nigerian U-23 team in eight years.

Sarki has now stated that when he was approached to pay to play for Nigeria, he dropped the notion.

The forward jumped at the chance to represent the Grenadiers, having been eligible through his maternal grandfather.

“There were people demanding I pay £5,000 just to make sure Nigeria called me up.

“What? I have to pay to play football for my country? No way, I’m not doing that. But my grandfather had come from Haiti to Nigeria as a missionary, I had his birth certificate, and there was another Haitian in the team at Wisla, who called the Haitian Football Federation president and told him all about me,” Sarki told the Athletic.

However, Sarki has stopped playing football because of his air sickness.

He added: “It was too stressful for me. I said to them I was really sorry but I’m done. I don’t want to travel that far. I was throwing up on the flights; I felt dizzy.”

“To represent them was really amazing but now I’m getting old. I’m 33, taking it easy, just balling. I have a young son, Samuel, and my fiancee is Polish. I am home.”