Yeah, I remember reading at the time that some Welsh fans didn’t want him back after the Toulon thing. I’m sure he has a love for Wales and I doubt we could have found a way to keep him when he would have been in their first team squad so quickly.
Well, my argument is nuanced and has a lot to do with the fact that the coaches don't personally control the PR + social media.
The Welsh coach at the time said he was frustrated by the late pull out but left the door open. From a nuanced perspective maybe he was solely frustrated at the FAW’s social media team.
Sometimes the best option is to be patient. If his preference was England, throwing that all away because he missed out on one squad at the age of ~20 is stupid.
From David Ornstein in The Athletic - England paying close attention to Giovanni Reyna and more details on our process: https://theathletic.co.uk/1628620/2020/02/24/ornstein-reyna-giovanni-usa-guendouzi-arteta-var/ Amid his emergence as one of the most exciting prospects in world football, it has not gone unnoticed that Giovanni Reyna could choose to represent England at international level. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder recently broke into the first-team picture at Borussia Dortmund and has featured in all of their eight games since making his debut on January 18. Becoming the youngest goalscorer in German Cup history with a stunning effort against Werder Bremen, Reyna is starting to shine and looks set to enjoy a bright career for club and country. But which country that will be remains undecided and The Athletic has learnt of the steps being taken by the English Football Association to potentially bring him under their flag in the future. Reyna was born in Durham in 2002 while his father Claudio played for Sunderland and a transfer to Manchester City kept the family in Britain until 2007, when they moved to the United States. He has turned out for USA in junior age groups — ironically netting the winner against England in the prestigious Torneo delle Nazioni final two years ago — and is also eligible to wear the colours of Portugal and Argentina via grandparents, which may produce a four-way tussle for his services. In the absence of a declaration or competitive senior cap, Reyna is among those subject to close monitoring as part of an FA system that follows every player capable of qualifying for England. It is a sophisticated set-up led by the Player Insights team at St George’s Park, which tracks a pool of roughly 1,000 talents and escalates any deemed to be credible long-term options. Reyna falls into the latter category and is now on a priority list of around 25 players the FA is paying particular attention to. That involves a more advanced screening process thought to have seen him scouted in person on about 15 occasions and by video in the region of 30 times. It is still only at an observation and data gathering stage, focusing on areas such as technical and tactical understanding, and Reyna is not yet a concrete target. If that changes, the FA will need to make sure of his qualification credentials and obtain international clearance from FIFA. Wary of countries scouring the globe to stockpile eligible players, FIFA spends considerable time scrutinising each case and that accentuates the need to be selective, thorough and patient with applications. Crucially, the player’s thinking must be established and the FA prefers not to do this at the outset in case it emerges publicly, especially given the situation might well not come to fruition. The importance placed on the operation — ultimately designed to maximise the number and quality of players available to England — is underlined by the size of the FA team working on it. Between scouts (referred to as ‘talent reporters’) and coaches, there are about 50 ‘eyes on the ground’ each weekend and another 12 at base specialising in video analysis and talent ID. Reyna will have been watched live and/or on video as he came off the substitutes bench to replace Jadon Sancho in the second half of Dortmund’s victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday. The FA’s information is collated, analysed by data scientists and fed into a player matrix that is regularly audited and used to help inform judgements, one of which could soon centre on Reyna.
Can't see anything coming out of that link, other than been born here he has no links and he's already very embedded in the US youth system not to mention his dad is a legend in the US national side (seems his mum was also a US international as well). It's a position England are pretty stacked in for his age group as well.
It's not something that's going to happen, but they really shouldn't need a team of analysts to see that he would be someone worth approaching. I fully expect him to surpass Pulisic as a footballer. He's a top talent between the ears in ways that I'm not sure Pulisic will ever be, and that's often where it counts most of all.
Nowhere in that article does it explain how Reyna would be eligible to play for England. The UK doesn't have Jus Solis - It is possible that his dad ended up with permanent residency He is playing in Dortmund on a Portuguese passport.
Surely just a non story tbh, I’d be amazed if Reyna didn’t play for anyone but the USA and follow in his parents footsteps.
He'll probably end up choosing Ireland. The article didn't state he was eligible for them but if there's a way of recruiting him, the Irish will find a way of doing it!
Mohamed Ali-Cho has been named in France's U16 squad having previously represented England at U15 & U16 level. Had no idea he left Everton too, he's now at Angers.
Neco Williams not in the u19 squad for their Elite Round games. Either confirms a senior squad call up, or a defection to you lot! We shall see...
Senior call up or U21’s surely? I would be amazed if he switched, makes little sense given the competition we have at right back.
according to Bild the Dortmund U17 bound 05 cb Julian Pauli seems to be German-Brit. ► Pauli was born in London, grew up in Düsseldorf and has dual citizenship. A real blue chip in today's turbo-capitalized football world. Pauli is currently attending the 9th grade of the international school in Kaiserswerth. And that's where his football fairy tale began. Pretty late... https://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/...e-pauli-bayern-und-manu-ab-70265144.bild.html clubs all over Germany and even Man U are said to be interested in him. So far he's dfb international.
seems like he was born in England and moved to Germany at 9. Never seen him play but considered to be a big cb prospect. Looks to already be 1.9m at age of 14.
For us yeah but I’m willing to bet @Ger90 will be hopping we stay away . Still appreciate his posts on these issues though, there’re interesting even if nothing comes from them.
I doubt he's good enough for England '03 in a significant capacity, but Casey Walls is a top central defense prospect by US standards. Born in London to an English mother and moved to California at age 7. He stands at 6-foot-2 and 171 pounds. The US 2003 team has done quite well so far, undefeated through 11 matches (8 victories including Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Japan, Venezuela; 3 draws including Xavi Simons-led Netherlands; no losses, all while missing their top 3 players who were playing up with a weak US '02 team), and Walls has been a consistent starter for the team. I don't know if there are any England-eligible players in the US domestic system good enough for England youth teams but Walls would be the most likely of any. https://www.sjearthquakes.com/players/casey-walls
I may be thinking way out of the box here but is anyone else concerned about the recent race riots and what effects it will have on black dual players? I'm starting to think this will dissuade them from choosing England and instead choosing to represent their parents countries.
Not really mate. I wouldn’t call them race riots. Black players have given so much to English football and if all they want is to have equality and respect then it isn’t too much to ask is it? I’d take a knee in solidarity any day of the week. (Still can’t stand ANTIFA though.) At the end of the day we have to respect players’ decisions whether they choose England or otherwise.
BLM are a shady organization funded by disaster capitalists looking to profit from the chaos, they want reparations paid to blacks and police stations to be disbanded. I would sooner play with traffic than take a knee in solidarity with them. The Western world seems to have entered into a lockdown-induced state of mass psychosis at the moment, though hopefully that will end when restrictions are lifted.