Ahmed Musa has revealed he never wanted to leave England after seeing his “dream” move end in disappointment this summer.
Musa joined Leicester City in 2016 for a club record fee and with much promise following a successful four-year stay at CSKA Moscow.
However, after just two league goals and 21 top-flight appearances, he found himself returning to the Russian capital on loan last January before Leicester cut their losses this summer by selling him to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr.
With his move being criticised as being purely financially motivated, the 25-year-old, who scored twice at the 2018 World Cup to become the first Nigerian to hit the net in two World Cups, defended himself.
“I wanted to stay in England because that has been my dream for years but what will you do when you’re told a bid has been accepted for you? I had to move to where I know I will be celebrated,” Musa told Own Goal Nigeria, as reported by Leadership.
“Talks have been on about how I moved for the money but nobody has considered the fact that Leicester City also sold me for the money. Transfers can only happen if both parties agree to it and that was my case.”
Musa was called up to Nigeria’s 23-man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.He scored in a 4–1 semi-final defeat of Mali and appeared as a substitute against Burkina Faso in the final, as the Super Eagles won their third continental title. Overall, he appeared in five of the team’s six matches.At the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, he started in all three of the team’s matches as they were eliminated in the group stage.
After appearing in all of Nigeria’s qualifying matches, Musa was named in Stephen Keshi’s squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.He scored two goals in the team’s final Group F match, a 3–2 defeat to Argentina.
In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Though his performance against Iceland was superb, it was not even enough to keep the West Africans in the tournament as they were eliminated by Argentina On 22 June 2018, Musa scored twice in a 2–0 victory over Iceland in their second group match of the World Cup.