There is no doubt that the English academy system is hugely beneficial to countries such as Ireland not only from gaining 2nd or 3 rd generation players who identify as Irish in the British system but also because most of our most promising homegrown irish players move to top tier British academies at 15/16 and are often linked in with British academies for a year or two before this playing in tournaments and going over and back on school holidays etc at under15 level and are benefiting from the excellent coaching and facilities and competition that these academies provide. The one flip side is that we are now finding the children of former irish internationals such as Rory delaps son and stephen irelands son been involved in english squads and Kwame ampudu s son playing with wales which is difficult to come to terms with for most irish fans
Worth noting that Rory Delap was born and raised in England though, so Liam Delap's Irish connection is only through his grandparents. Surely Irish fans can come to terms with missing out on that basis?
I read an interview with Bryan Gunn where he said that he’s tried to convince Angus to play for Scotland many times but he wants to play for the country of his birth. It’s that simple for a lot of players.
For some reason, Irish people think that because someone has an Irish grandparent, they automatically feel Irish above anything else. It's very narrow minded on their part that maybe, just maybe, this person may not feel a connection to Ireland and may only connect with their country of birth. I've noticed they have a very hard time understanding that.
Not sure why Irish fans find it 'hard to come to terms' with Amapdu playing for Wales. The lad was born and raised in England to an Irish raised father (although born in England and of Ghanaian descent) and a Welsh mother. His heritage is very mixed and there's no profound reason why he should play for Ireland.
Marcelo Flores, who has formally signed for Arsenal from ITFC this week, and was at an England U16 camp last year is currently away with the Mexican national team. I'm not sure if he is even eligible for England, he is for both Canada and Mexico, and most likely the Cayman Islands
Given the Quality of that German Under-21 side its hard to believe Nmecha was actually in there on merit. He literally isn't one of our top ten attackers at that level!
Nmecha brother Felix is also an option Anyway, Nmecha should not have been the last association changer. "At the back we also have one or the other idea that no one expects," reveals Kuntz, "we try to be creative and resourceful." In Nmechas family you could quickly find something. The two years younger brother Felix, an attacking midfielder, also at ManCity, is already torn and has already completed international matches for both England and Germany's juniors. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/u21/startseite/745466/artikel_der-krimi-um-nmecha.html
Felix hardly got any minutes for England in this break which was curious. Neither England nor Germany qualified for the u19 Euros this time so he won't have a choice to make this summer. That said, the scheduling is so late I'm sure Felix will be hoping that City take him on tour regardless.
Palace's Brandon Aveiro, 2001 born, eligible for England and Portugal, has been called up to Portugal U18s. England monitored him at U16s. Not sure he's been close since then though.
One on the long-term radar, Ajax goalkeeper Charlie Setford (04) is a dual nat with England but has been called up into the Dutch U15 squad.
He is at the goalkeeper camp at SGP currently on the go. So far my list includes. Jack Hall (Sheff Wed) Charlie Setford (Ajax) Jay-Jay Bristol-Thompson (Blackburn) Tom Myles (Man Utd) Ronnie Hollingshead (WBA) Pierce Charles (Man City) Tyler Weeks (Leicester) Tom Wooster (Barnsley)
Paul Glatzel undecided about International allegiance. But Glatzel is relaxed about that particular situation, and says: “No, I've not made a decision about that yet. “I'll just focus on club football and see where that takes me first and if I have a decision to make in the future I'll have to make it then. I've not got anything decided yet. https://www.tribalfootball.com/arti...-final-international-choice-4278244#popup-sso
Apparently he didn’t see any game time whatsoever during these Championships in Africa which hasn’t gone down well with Pinnock. https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=31954
I wouldn’t give it much attention tbh mate. That account doesn’t look like anything that holds great substance. If there is a lot more to the story with quotes in the National press then I might give it more credit.