English players Dual Nationality thread #2

It's a bit of a love letter type strategy? Telling him that there's a place for him if he wants it.

 

Steve McClaren live at a press conference right now and has just announced a call-up for Mason Holgate. Just waiting on final FIFA approval but think it's close enough that its ok to include him in the side pre-emptively.

 

Blackburn right back Leonard Duru and Coventry forward Aidan Dausch are in the latest USA U20 squad. Liverpool forward Keyrol Figueroa in the USA U19 squad

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3087...e-bizarre-international-row-england-portugal/
Mateus Mane double call up has been reported in the Sun

 

Looks like Man United have a pair of twins, Douka & Bassirou Nkoto, who might be eligible for England in the way Antonee Robinson has been found eligible for the USA (Hard to tell as some reports suggested they had British citizenship when they were signed) and are officially born in 2010 but lots of people think are older.

 

I doubt FIFA will show us the same courtesy that’s shown to the US. Where they from originally?

 

Cameroon. I think they will qualify for England by residency at some point. They've been in the UK for a few years at least and are only 13 now.

 

There's a possibility that they were born here as their mum was in England studying at that time.

That's assuming their DOB is legit of course as there's some dispute around that.

 

They not on the GRO index for 2010 or any other year as far as I can find.

And if they were born in the UK their birthdate would be known and accurate as records would exist.

 

Out of interest, what’s the debate about their birth?

 

That they older than being just turned 14 a few days ago. Being Cameroonian adds to that suspicion as they is a lot age fraud in Cameroonian football.

 

Ipswich Town's Omari Hutchinson earned his first senior caps with Jamaica in two friendlies last year, having previously represented England U17s and U19s.

But he has now decided to battle for a place in the senior England squad.

✍️ @SJohnsonSport ⤵️

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) October 4, 2024

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Omari Hutchinson opts to battle for place in England squad over Jamaica call-up

Nobody could accuse Omari Hutchinson of rushing the decision of where to focus his international ambitions.

Over the past 12 months or so, there have been meetings at various intervals with Jamaica asking him to fully commit to them, while people close to the England Under-21s camp have been trying to persuade him to return to the England fold. One of those was former Jamaica international Michael Johnson, who is now part of the England Under-21s staff.

Hutchinson earned his first official senior caps with Jamaica in two friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago last year, however, he had previously represented England at under-17 and under-19 level.

His fine form on loan at Ipswich Town during the 2023-24 season, when he scored 10 Championship goals and made six assists to help them earn promotion to the Premier League, intensified the battle for his services.

It has not been an easy choice. Hutchinson genuinely enjoyed playing for Jamaica. On a family holiday there over the summer, locals made clear how appreciated he would be if he played for their national side, and there is a much greater chance of being picked for Jamaica than England due to the vast difference in talent pools.


But Hutchinson, who became Ipswich’s record signing when he joined permanently from Chelsea for £20million ($26m), plus £2.5m in add-ons, in June, has chosen England because they have a genuine chance of competing for major silverware. The huge investment in the game means England’s facilities are of the highest level and the environment offers a great opportunity to improve.

Hutchinson, 20, is fully aware of how many good players England have to choose from in the attacking midfield positions but wants to give it a shot. He is not afraid of setting himself big targets. As he told The Athletic last year, one of his aims is to win the Champions League.

Hutchinson only made up his mind on the issue over the summer. In March, he turned down call-ups from both associations because he wanted to concentrate on helping Ipswich win promotion from the Championship.

On being appointed as Jamaica’s new head coach in late July, Steve McClaren reached out to Hutchinson to try to convince him, but to no avail. McClaren made it clear he respected the decision.

It helps that Hutchinson already knows many of the England Under-21s players. He was called up for the first time last month and travelled to the camp despite having a minor injury that meant he had to withdraw after a few days.

But the trip reassured Hutchinson he was making the right choice. It gave him the chance to see some familiar faces and have a positive conversation with interim head coach Ben Futcher.

The latter was given the role after Lee Carsley was named interim head coach of the senior team in August. Carsley, who has a great chance of securing the main job more permanently, rates Hutchinson highly.

There are no guarantees over what happens next, but the fact England have made such a concerted effort is a compliment to Hutchinson’s abilities in itself

 

1842356657545736215 is not a valid tweet id

 

It's highly unlikely, he's never shown any interest in playing for them (Ireland offer friendly apps to English players) and his first season in the PL is going pretty well.

 

Leo Rodella has now been called up for Italy's U17 EURO Qualifiers.

 

Unsurprising outcome I predicted long ago because it was obvious what his intentions were when he started ghosting our program and refusing call-ups for vague reasons.

If he is unable to break into the England senior side in 5 or 6 years and starts looking for alternatives, I do sincerely hope Jamaica keeps the door closed on him permanently. That he ever wore our colours at all is already shameful. He jerked us around and took resources and time that we could have invested in a player who actually wants to represent us. He should never have agreed to represent us in the first place if he was this uncommitted. Complete waste of time player.

 

I mean there's a good chance he willingly cap tied himself to us with the U21s last month. I know the rules are about to change but he didn't know that at the time. Seems like pretty strong commitment if you ask me.

 

To be honest with you, Jamaica shouldn’t be calling up a kid with virtually no professional experience trying to cap tie him.

 

Yeah, Hutchinson was a child when Jamaica called him up. It's hard to expect kids of that age to make an informed decision about the rest of their career and expect them to stick to it. Very few teenagers manage to do that in normal life so it shouldn't be expected of footballers either imo.

 

I see what you are saying. That said, consider the counter-argument: if Jamaica is going to rely on dual-nationals, the idea of integrating them earlier so they can get more familiar with the setup and grow up within the program in a manner more similar to players actually developed in Jamaica as opposed to coming in late has some appeal. A lot of Jamaicans have pushed for this and it's not that hard to see why: it reduces the gap between foreign born and domestic players, and theoretically players who commit earlier in their careers when there's more upside for them should be more invested (although looser eligibility rules have changed this somewhat).

Many disliked the optics of a player showing up last minute, 30+ in the twilight of his career, after treating Jamaica like an after thought for a decade or more, getting a dozen or so caps and then disappearing. They understood that this was always going to be the reality for many recruited dual nationals, but the hope was that a larger number could commit earlier and make the island not only feel like less of an afterthought, but also spend more time actually representing us (younger players = more potential WC cycles they can contribute to) and thus build more consistency and cohesion in the player pool.

On the other hand, you recruit young enough and you take the risk of this kind of thing happening, which is of course very disappointing.

There's a balance to be struck, just not sure exactly where it is. We certainly didn't strike it with Hutchinson, and perhaps the risk is unavoidable to some degree. In any case, I get he was a kid when committing and understand the switch, but still want him nowhere near the Jamaica senior side ever again.

Hutchinson wasn't the only young English-born player integrated recently, and multiple of the others have become regular contributors in the senior setup. Perhaps we just chose badly - it happens, win some, lose some. The other young guys we got (Dexter Lembikisa, Coniah Boyce Clarke, Karoy Anderson) are good players who are very, very well integrated into the setup and will be around for 2 or 3 world cup cycles. Others will come after them - life goes on.

 

Hutchinson is a completely different profile to those three players. It was a ambitious move to try and tie down a player as highly rated as Hutchinson so young and it didn't work. He'll probably play for Jamaica in the end I suspect. He's looked a bit lightweight in the PL in the games I've seen so far. Looking forward to see what he can do in our 21s mind.

 

It seems pretty hypocritical to be so supportive of Jamaica recruiting players from the english system and then complain about the edge cases where it backfires (which even then jamaica had lost little really given he is neither jamaican born nor trained).

it also seems silly to hold it against Hutchinson, who more likely than not will end up with Jamaica eventually anyway. You can accuse him of messing jamaica around, but what hes done is no more cynical than jamaica offering senior caps to someone who wasnt even playing senior football. The only difference between hin and the guys you are praising as well integrated to jamaica is he actually has some chance of playing for England.

You cant both advocate for increasingly weak eligibility rules because it benefits jamaica but also complain at the very rare cases it doesnt go your way.

 

I don’t blame Jamaica for trying but you’ll get burned by players when there’s a glimmer of hope with England. If you’re a player with serious aspirations in the game then you’ll always choose England over Jamaica. Getting to word cups isn’t enough when you can make a serious challenge of winning it with the talent England has.