Naturalising players for the England team?

I've 'probably' (there's always that 1% chance!) done more in football, in the UK and abroad, than you'll ever do bud.
You 'mock' me for being loyal to my local team.

Mor-on

"I've 'probably' (there's always that 1% chance!) done more in football, in the UK and abroad, than you'll ever do bud."

hahaha Why of course you have.

There's no chance of you lying over the internet, eh? Very little chance of that.

comment by He's French, He's Flash! (U9335)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
blabla..

Given that every player on that list except Butcher was useless for England I guess that proves that maybe we shouldn't naturalise players
----------------------------------------------------------------------
hargreaves was good

Don't get me wrong though I would love that as the team policy for englamd and united but as many here have pointed out to me is idealistic.
----------------------------------------------------------

You finally get it

Basically, I think the national team should be a fair representation of a nation's ability to bring through and nurture talent. I don't think it really matters if a player isn't born in the country, but they should have the majority of their footballing education there to be considered eligible for the national team.

I just don't really see how Januzaj can be considered English. There is also the home nations agreement about nationalising players due to the "one passport, four nations" situation that the UK has - if he can play for England then he could play for Scotland.

Other countries may choose to do it, and I don't really have a problem with that, and if England choose to do it then I won't have any objections to supporting a nationalised player. I'm just saying that I don't think it is the right way to improve the national team.

You might call it idealistic, but surely if anything can afford a little bit of idealism it's international sport.

Rusty - if Thiago can play for Spain, Zaha can play for England, Ozil/ Sahin/ Podolski can play for Germany, Trezeguet/ Zizou/ Desailly ect for France, I don't see the issue.

There's just no need for it at all. We should be able to get a good football team together without naturalising foreigners. After all, look at the England cricket team, they've managed to -

Oh, hang on...

Henrik

The national identity of someone is based upon more than just where you are born.

People use Zidane as an example, but his son is a better example as Zidane was very much French. His son Enzo moved to Spain when he was six but has elected to play for Spain to my knowledge, despite being French.

One of my best friends wasn't born in England but has an English dad and was brought up here and is very much English.

People say it's arrogant to not choose foreign players yet it's arrogant to suggest that just because they're eligible that they feel English and would opt to play for us.

If I were good enough to play I could play for England as well as Wales (I even have a German great grandfather). No jokes about me being able to play for Wales this week please!

However, I don't think I could ever consider playing for anyone other than Wales as I feel Welsh and it is a part of me and will be forever.

The same applies here I think. If you have been in a country long enough and 'feel' that you are a particular nationality then that is who you should play for if you qualify. Being born in a country shouldn't be the be all and end all of everything. The ultimate American, John McEnroe was born in Germany.

BusbyBabes

I'm not exactly militant in my opinions. I realise the England cricket team has nationalised a lot of players and other countries have in football. I don't see it as an evil that must be stamped out, I just think that firstly, it is a quick fix solution to the lack of talent that we are producing and secondly that it undermines the idea having an English national team. It also does a disservice to English players, who would (I imagine) be disgruntled at being benched for foreign players in the England team.

I can understand it with players who feel a connection with the country through roots or upbringing, but not so much for players who come to England already a footballer at the age of 16.