“Obviously, I got my home country, Cameroon, which I love, and the U.S., where I’ve been for 14 years now, and then France, where I have a lot of family,” Embiid said. “I kind of felt rushed in that decision. I wanted to take as much time as possible, and it didn’t help that France had put an ultimatum on when the decision had to be made.”
Embiid said he wasn’t aware there was a timeline, but he “saw it on Twitter” and was surprised because the U.S. was willing to give him as much time as necessary to make a decision.
Here’s the letter from which you can read “I would like to take the steps to obtain French naturalization and thus be eligible for selection with the Blues. I, therefore, do not wish to play for any other national team. I have sent a file to this effect to the Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs.”