I honestly have never really cared. If you don’t have even a modicum of desire to represent something then it is not going to work out anyway is it? To use a French word he has always acting extremely nonchalant about his England eligibility. There were a good few occasions when France didn’t call him up or promote him at certain levels. But he stuck with them anyway. It is not like Musiala when Germany through the kitchen sink to get him. It was a bit embarrassing in the way that Deschamps dropped him for that senior finals squad. The difference in treatment in those cases speaks volumes.
The vast majority of this stuff is kept in house though. Sometimes it comes up with the senior coach or U21 coach but not much is given out to the public. He was definitely asked about England on a few occasions.
I’ve just noticed the Elye Wahi has switched to Ivory Coast. The fourth player to switch from France’s 2023 U21 Finals squad (Adli, Gouiri, Larouci).
I think they might if he does well for France at the World Cup. Same with Semenyo during the buildup to the Ghana Mtxh.
Can you think of anyone else who Argentina recruited from another system outside of Garnarcho (who's not even that good) and his parents are from Argentina Is Garnarcho the best player you can think of?
Fundamentally FIFA is a one member one vote system. Under that a system that benefits 85% of them is always going to remain, It’s just how FIFA works now a days.
He did. His dad is Argentine and was in their 1998 World Cup squad and his mum is Spanish. There are lot of South Americans including Argentine’s in Spain now a days so I think diaspora players will increase for South American teams. (Even with Argentina’s new rules on picking non domestic based youth players.)
They also were very aggressive about calling up a bunch of dual youth players to large squads about 4 years ago which included Luka Romero (Mexican born and Spain raised), Garnacho, Paz, and the Carboni brothers (Argentina born but Italy raised and playing for Italy youth team), which called quite a stir at the time as they all ranged from having no to next to no senior experience and was quite obviously due to their dual status. It was by far the most aggressive recruitment of duals I can remember from a major national side.
What Argentina's federation is doing recently is defensive, not predatory. Its a pushback to a historical trend of losing prospects to Europe (and elsewhere), and the Carboni bothers example is a validation of that. International football has reached a point where hyper-aggressive (early) recruitment of dual nationals is at such a scale, its creating an environment that's effectively become a race to the bottom. The only thing I can see, that will at least help mitigate this arms race, would be FIFA introducing some kind of compensation scheme. For example, if a Federation recruited a player developed in another country's youth system, they must then pay a flat fee of say 10 million quid to that Federation (of origin). That would at least, reduce/prevent countries going around, playing the system and hoarding players.
Why would more than say 10 counties ever agree to vote for that? It basically be transferring money from poorer federations to richer ones. Thats no where near the direction FIFA is heading in.
I do wonder that if the FA better appreciated the changing landscape with dual-nationals back in the months before Musiala switched if he’d now be an England player. He was loyal to England for a long time after moving to Germany. I’m sure we could’ve cap-tied him. To borrow a Fireburnism - I’m sure there would’ve been a backlash in the press if we capped a player with such little senior experience. In a similar situation going forward we have to be more cynical about things.
It doesn't really make sense to say its defensive when they're pursuing players born and raised in other countries like Garnacho and Paz, neither of whom had played in a single professional game before their first senior call ups which is far more aggressive than other major nations. I don't think they've really been particularly historic victims either, Italy has had a decent amount of Argentinian's play for them although pretty much all having been overlooked by Argentina and over 25.
My view has always been that whoever made the senior call up first would have just forced a decision. Rather than guaranteeing his loyalty. Maybe if he had stayed in England at club level it might have had an impact.
Southgate only wanted players who genuinely committed not those there because he got in first. A different manager might have done that and jsut ignored any backlash. (The reaction to Erica Meg Parkinson getting called up to the Lionesses suggests a lot of the coverage would be positive based on age and curiosity.)
I think the cancelled u17 Euros in which this team would have been heavy favourites plays a bigger part than many think as well. If he´d participated and played alongside his good mate Jude than who knows? I think these tournament experiences can be very shaping for a young player´s attachment to one country over the other. Agree with the point about club level too. However, I don´t think moving to Germany per se meant he was a lost case for England. It´s much rather the case of him moving to FC Bayern Deutschland of all clubs. Any young Germany-eligible player who only needs to get some serious minutes off the bench for them will be in contention for a German NT call-up. It´s the same now with Karl over the likes of say El-Mala who´s a regular starter but only for a team in a relegation scrap. If he went to Dortmund for example things would have been much different imo playing, training and perhaps even living together with Jude and Sancho.
I think we were always struggling on that one when he moved to Bayern who are are pretty much as close to a national team in football as you get among major nations. Not only did he have 7 team mates who were in the Germany Euro squad including incredibly influential players like Neuer Muller and Kimmich, you also had the ex-Germany assistant manager in charge when Musiala switched, who was widely known to be the Germany manager in waiting. You basically couldn't have put him in a worse place, from an England perspective. They must have been in his ear constantly. Really dhelp it also happened in Covid either which of course had disrupted a bunch of youth football meets ups. Maybe if the '03 squad has won the Euro's together that summer it might have created a) more momentum for an England call up, and b) embedded him better in the system in a successful England side.
Is it just me or are the reactions in the comments to the Lionesses in general more positive compared to the men? Just an observation I think I´ve made recently...
Musiala’s last game for England u21 came 16 months after signing for Bayern. Whilst he played for England in this period he was a prolific poster of England stuff. Interestingly shortly after his last game for England, the German FA said they accepted that his decision to play for England. A sceptic could interpret this as a deliberate ploy to lull the FA into a false sense of security. Even in interviews after switching Musiala has said that he still sees himself as partially English. I remain convinced that he would’ve accepted a senior England call in that 16 month period if offered.
Well they’ve been pretty good recently! That said there’s clearly a different tone taken towards women’s football than men’s. When Musiala switched this new dual-national landscape was embryonic. I think many in the media back then would’ve had a lot to say about England calling up a youth player most of them had never heard of.