These constant stories about how foreign players may become eligible to play for England are so tedious. Arteta, Almunia, Rangel for Wales, Novo for Scotland... each one has been touted and none have ever come to pass. Are the papers so oblivious that they have forgotten? As others have said, no foreign-born players who haven't been educated in England are eligible, and it is not a likely prospect that that rule will be abolished. Besides that, Januzaj has only been in England for 2 and a half years and won't qualify for British citizenship for another two and half years, so this is all extremely premature. I have a lot of time for Hodgson, but he's embarrassing himself discussing this in public.
Well it's hardly a ringing endorsement of the current England players, or the manager's competence, that he is openly courting a foreign player who is not, and almost certainly never will be, eligible to play for England.
I on't think Hodgson is "openly courting him". This seems to be based off Match of the Day where he was asked a direct question about the player possibly playing for England and basically said it might be possible and that there would have to be discussions if it became a real possibility. I'm not sure what else he could say in those circumstances. The actual quotes from Hodgson in the BBC article on this are: "There's no doubt that he's a real talent and we have our eyes on him but a lot will have to be discussed" "He's been with United for a long period of time and of course that discussion will have to be seriously debated before we start naturalising players. Yes [he could play for England] down the line if he becomes naturalised or if he becomes a homegrown product."
Sounds pretty open to me. He should have just said "well we'd like to have him but as far as I'm aware he's not eligible". Frankly it's incredibly naive to discuss this kind of thing on television because without a change in the rules there is currently zero prospect of him ever being eligible for England. Hodgson is simply wrong when he says he could play for England if he becomes naturalised.
Frankly it's naive to talk about a player playing for England after one good match but then this is English media after all
That's not openly courting him, that's saying "We're aware of him." As far as I can see the only thing that's stopping him playing for England is an agreement between the Home Nations. That agreement could be changed (or challenged or whatever) and is presumably what Hodgson is talking about when he says discussions would have to take place. This is very true.
To have one's eyes on something is not to be aware of it, it is to covet it. Despite there being several players wanted by all of the home nations in recent years, the agreement has never been changed yet, and won't be. And even if it were, Januzaj is still the best part of three years away from qualifying for a British passport. Apart from anything else, this is a player who has made one start in the premier league. Sure, he had an excellent game, but for England to be so keen on him smacks of desperation. Who knows if he will even be at United, or even playing in England, in three years? Premature isn't the word.
I don't see why we even need to be desperate when we've got the likes of Ward-Prowse, Powell, Sterling, Zaha, Hughes, Loftus-Cheek, Lingard and others coming through.
I think you're buying into the journalistic hyperbole here. I watched Match of the Day, saw Hodgson's comments and did not come away with the impression he's begging the kid to play for England. He's was playing things down, it was Shearer and Lineker who were blowing the England trumpet. Tell you what. Here's a link to Match of the Day. The discussion starts just before 16 minutes in
I watched it. For Hodgson to admit an interest publicly is enough, and clearly signals his intention. As I said, he could have easily brushed it off, but he didn't. The journalistic hyperbole is an inevitable consequence of that, as Hodgson surely knows. And as Joe says, he's hardly a better prospect than a lot of other young (actually eligible) players coming through. It's silly to be drawn into the discussion.
What is annoying is that he's played but one good game in the Premier League but, of course, its for Man Utd. So it stands to reason he is automatically a shoe-in for England just as Zaha was after only signing for Utd.
Januzaj is a lot better than Zaha. I have no doubt he'll be a top player and that's not based on one game.
A pundit said yesterday that he would probably be better off deciding to play for Belgium. He's right...we are no longer a team that anyone without an allegiance would jump to play for. Needing to ask a player who is not eligible and would turn us down anyway reflects badly on the national team and, even more, on our hopes for the future.
I still don't get people's interpretation of these comments. Hodgson made three comments on the subject. In two of those comments he said that there would have to be discussions about whether England would want to naturalise a player and his third answer was to agree with Shearer that Januzaj may not want to play for England anyway if they don't do well in the next few years. So Hodgson essentially acknowledged it might be possible in future for Januzaj to play for England but said England might not pick him anyway. I just don't see how people get from there to saying that Hodgson is openly courting him or even asking him to play for England. He was pretty clear that he might not get picked anyway.
Moyes also said that England had made enquiries, presumably to see how long the player had been here. As someone pointed out...not long enough.
Puck - realistically there is no possibility he will play for England, so to presume there is one, as Hodgson has done (even you must agree with this), is foolish.
No I don't agree. Once you take away the media nonsense Hodgson basically said he COULD become eligible for England but if that did happen England might well not pick him because of their policy on naturalising players. He also agreed that Januzaj may not even want to play for England. That's all completely accurate.
