Former Golden Eaglets’ invitee, Kunle Bajowa’s 11-year-old son, Victor Olamide, has opted to play for Italy at youth and senior national team levels.
Although he is yet to become a teenager, SportsDay gathered that Victor Olamide Bajowa has started thinking big at an early age and he has already chosen to play for Italy when his professional football career gets into full steam.
This much was revealed by the youngster’s dad, who acknowledged that he has repeatedly hit a brick wall in trying to convince the precocious lad to commit his international future to Nigeria’s green-and-white.
The older Bajowa, who grew up in Ikotun area of Lagos, but did not play professional football in Nigeria before moving to Jomo Cosmos of South Africa and then Venezia of Italy, further revealed that Victor Olamide admires Portuguese legend, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The former student of Saint Gregory’s College, Obalende, Lagos added that his son also believes it is by playing for The Azurri, not Nigeria, that he would be able to surpass the heroics of his football idol, Ronaldo.
Incidentally, Victor Olamide Bajowa was born in Italy and, though his mother’s parents are from Nigeria, she also has Italian citizenship, thereby paving the way for the lad to get a plausible international future with the country of his birth.
“I’ve tried to convince my son to play for Nigeria, but he insists it’s Italy that he prefers,” said the proud dad, who is fondly called ‘BJ’ by his associates.
“All the same, football has gone beyond sticking to your country of origin. It is now mostly about where you were born, not where your parents are from.”
The fair-skinned former dazzling winger, whose father was a sibling of a famous military officer, Olu Bajowa, from Igbotako in Ondo State, also expressed confidence in his son’s ability to reach the big stage in world football.
“I am happy that God has blessed me with a son that has greater football potentials than I did. We are both left footed, but he is a striker, while I was a winger.
“He was on Wednesday officially signed to the academy of Venezia Calcio, and I am happy with the progress he is making.
“He wants to be greater than his role model, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is already showing signs of greatness … though he is still in junior secondary school and will only be 11 in November,” Bajowa disclosed.
He concluded by also revealing that the student of Prima Media School in Venice is equally praying hard that he will commence his senior professional career with current Serie A champions, Inter Milan, immediately he finishes his first certificate examination.
