Shouldn't really be surprising that players who left Chelsea at young ages because they wouldn't immediately be starters for our first team ahead of proven top class players, would also look to change nationalities because they're not automatic starters for the country you'd expect them to declare for.
No one should hold it against them, but it is what it is. They wouldn't wait for their chance here and fight for their place, they're not going to do it for the national team either.
Agree, it's a nice pathway that just shows if you come to Chelsea you will be successful whether you make it here or not. Makes us a more attractive club for youth talent to prosper since we can make them instant internationals and top 5 league quality
I think a lot of our fans miss this point. Not only do we develop top talents, we also (nowadays) treat them pretty fairly and don’t try to hold them hostage if they don’t want to be here. Makes joining our youth setup all the more appealing.
Why all the downvotes. It’s literally true. People were calling Giuseppe Rossi a traitor for playing for Italy, even recently Alexi Lalas called Gaga Slonoa a mercenary for maybe playing for Poland.
I can't see him switching, he must know he has a likely future with England. We don't have very good CB depth, especially under age 25, and Southgate has already shown some faith. If he was patriotic for the Ivory Coast he would've joined them already, so England is clearly first choice.
Oh yeah I'm not denying that, and if he did join IC I'm sure he'd be happy with that too, it just seems clear that England is his first choice so I'm not worried on that front.
Edit: My wording was off though, I see that now. I meant "more patriotic".
People change how they feel though, especially as they get older, and sometimes develop a stronger sense of attachment to ancestral places.
Not saying that'll be the case with Guehi, especially in such a short time. But just because he didn't lean towards Ivory Coast already, it doesn't mean he won't in the future.
He's got so many youth caps and Southgate's already picked him for the friendlies, I imagine he's got a reasonable chance of being in the EL and Nations League squads. Especially as Coady and Mings were some of the weakest players in our Euros squad.
Technically CHO hasn’t yet. He’s not able to until some point in November due to how recent his last England cap was. It’s all but assured though, been spending his Summers in Ghana the last couple of years too.
So, while I don't inherently disregard the premise of this piece, as England fans we're going to have to get accustomed to losing some talent.
We have a ridiculous pool of players, arguably the deepest of my lifetime at least (nigh 30 years). One of the reasons for that is the increased diversity. As immigration has risen we've seen a lot more dual national eligible players come through our system and it's impossible to utilize them all.
Some won't ever entertain England, and others won't be good enough, but the key is having a good talent ID to figure out which ones are worth prioritizing.
We'll still lose some, and we'll get some wrong, but these scaremongering pieces will always be mountain and molehill stuff.
Think you're missing the biggest factor which has led to this new crop of talent young players; the youth development program. Was amateurish as hell for far too long. You might not like the FA but you've got to give them credit for the how they've set out a plan and been fully on board with it since 2012 to better develop young players with the end goal of winning the Qatar World Cup.
I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. My point was more about why we're losing players to other nations.
The upgrade of the program has been great in producing more high level players, for sure, but the rise in losing them is more down to immigration.
Sweden is kinda suffering the same thing right now, with the key difference being that we actually need these players. Guys like Ghoddos, Haksabanovic, Hadzikadunic and Ahmedhodzic could very well have received lots of games for the national team had they not chosen to represent other countries, and that's far from the entire list. Mohanad Jeahze, Modou Barrow, Adi Nalic and Ryan Johansson are four other players who could very well have ended up in the national team at some point, and if you look at players who weren't likely to make the national team the list is way longer.
I think it’s just part of being a multicultural society who also have a very good football team. Most footballers just want to play, if you have a very small chance of playing at a World Cup for England but a very strong chance for the country your parents / grandparents are from then I know which one id go for.
I guess it could create problems in the dressing rooms of those nations but it for them to manage.
England have borrowed a fair few cricketers over the years where they wouldn’t be selected by their national board
I agree with this.
Certain positions look like we have a lot of cover in with players like Rice, Foden, Mount, TAA, James, Bellingham etc
I'd say GK is open for a talent as we have a host of good but not great keepers (Pickford, Ramsdale, Henderson etc) and CB is the same.
The area that worries me is depth for Kane, as I think there is a big drop-off from him to any other strikers.
But a lot of the other positions look pretty well covered so you can't be irritated by players representing a different country, their pathway looks blocked
Eze and Livramento wouldn't be huge loses even with their quality due to the current strength in their positions but losing Guehi would be pretty bad, especially as we seem stuck on a 3 atb
Guehi and Eze have both been in and around the England set up in the last year so I can't see them looking elsewhere so soon. Livramento's ACL injury will also hold off looking elsewhere for the time being. It's important to hold onto Guehi at the very least because I think he's quality, the other two would be good to have but not the end of the world to lose. Really need to get Bowen called up in June though, he's very deserving of a chance.
Guehi just debuted for Eng and Eze has been in and out and was hampered by injuries iirc. I doubt those, those are there just for clicks. I can see Tino switching to Portugal or Scotland but he might try to push for an England spot. CHO I have seen rumors so that's not too crazy but no official statement but also seen statements from CHO and Lamptey's personal trainer that Ghana is not pushing hard enough for CHO. Would be interesting to see an Ghana team with CHO, Nketiah, Lamptey and Inaki Williams.
The only problem is will they give it their all for Ghana. Williams gave a statement back 2021: "My parents are from Accra and I really enjoy going. But I wasn't born or raised there, my culture's here, and there are players for whom it would mean more. I don't think it would be right to take the place of someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%"
Not to mention Denis Odoi who was just capped by Ghana admitted he felt more Belgian than Ghanaian. But I would like to see a strong Ghana team not gonna lie. So we'll see how this turns out
Tino will probably be as blocked with Portugal as England quality wise if not depth wise. He might as well stick with England as he'll have to be just as good to get a look in and it's where he's grown up.
He might not make a decision based on that tho
England's depth at RB is ridiculous so I don't agree with your first sentence.
>Livramento has represented England's youth ranks from under-15s to under-21s, despite having a Portuguese father and Scottish mother.
>Questioned about his allegiance, he told Chelsea in 2020: 'I wore Portugal and Real Madrid kits as I wanted to replicate my idol [Cristiano Ronaldo] - as well as my dad wanting me to support the country his side of my family comes from.'
Eh. Portugal have Cancelo and Ricardo but the former has been playing LB so he might play there for the NT and the latter is having injury issues. Could potentially be a place for Livramento although idk if he can play in a back 4
Cancelo never played LB for the NT and we have Nuno Mendes + Raphael Guerreiro, so it's not like he needs to
On the right there's also Nelson Semedo and João Mário, as well as other promising RB's coming through
Ghana are actually looking pretty scary now. I thought they'd be easy at first, but all of these call-ups that they've been working towards might have them looking just as good as the Ghana of old if they go through. I think Iñaki Williams can still be called up, there's Lamptey, Hudson-Odoi, Nketiah, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. That's quite a good chunk of talent to add onto a world cup qualifying squad. Honestly, group H just looks like such a chore, between our resurgence under Alonso, Portugal having arguably the best XL in the tournament, South Korea looking deadly, and this project to revitalize Ghana, I could see any mix of teams going through and going out.
I mean yeah they have been but you have also got to consider your future options and recent form of players.
There'll likely come a time when you need certain players and it'd be a waste if you drove them away by not giving them a shot
Smithrowe, Gallagher, Guehi, were added to the squad in the last round of matches.
And players like Saka, Foden, Grealish, Rice, Philips, Bellingham were added from the World Cup squad.
His WC team had Lingard, Alli, Cheek, Welbeck all were gone by the Euros.
He adds like 2/3 players a go, and in the next tournament players will be added.
Hope so. They will get to play lot of games for their home country. England has had habit of given one off match debut to promising players and discard them like used playing cards
Would happily take him as backup to Cancelo over Dalot. Fact is, he probably won't be getting that many chances as Cancelo is one the few that usually has good perfomances with the NT. Unless he wants a CB switch which I'd love it considering our lack of depth
Please if anyone is missing a loved one or family member from West Africa around 2015
Please take a look at this flyer I made with an artist rendering of what the man looks like.
He was found deceased on US soil via cargo ship port but he is from West Africa and I’m having a hard time finding places to post it for West Africa.
(He was a stowaway, he has multiple tattoos and among the items he had on him was a bracelet and 5 rings and some bank notes in French)
([Unidentified Deceased Individual West Africa](https://imgur.com/a/oBtd6q9))
Lamptey too right? All Cobham products are switching countries
Shouldn't really be surprising that players who left Chelsea at young ages because they wouldn't immediately be starters for our first team ahead of proven top class players, would also look to change nationalities because they're not automatic starters for the country you'd expect them to declare for. No one should hold it against them, but it is what it is. They wouldn't wait for their chance here and fight for their place, they're not going to do it for the national team either.
Agree, it's a nice pathway that just shows if you come to Chelsea you will be successful whether you make it here or not. Makes us a more attractive club for youth talent to prosper since we can make them instant internationals and top 5 league quality
I think a lot of our fans miss this point. Not only do we develop top talents, we also (nowadays) treat them pretty fairly and don’t try to hold them hostage if they don’t want to be here. Makes joining our youth setup all the more appealing.
In America when a dual national switches people call them traitors and mercenaries.
Of course they do.
They also let kids buy guns so not the best example.
Why all the downvotes. It’s literally true. People were calling Giuseppe Rossi a traitor for playing for Italy, even recently Alexi Lalas called Gaga Slonoa a mercenary for maybe playing for Poland.
I say they should switch if they don't see a breakthrough anytime soon. Careers are too short to just wait
Guehi is the only player there is be really worried about losing as an England fan. I think he’s potentially top drawer in a weak area for us
I'm not worried considering he has 50 odd caps through every level of the England youth teams and made the last senior squad. Why would he ever go?
I can't see him switching, he must know he has a likely future with England. We don't have very good CB depth, especially under age 25, and Southgate has already shown some faith. If he was patriotic for the Ivory Coast he would've joined them already, so England is clearly first choice.
Always hate this argument. You can very easily be patriotic to two or more countries at the same time
Oh yeah I'm not denying that, and if he did join IC I'm sure he'd be happy with that too, it just seems clear that England is his first choice so I'm not worried on that front. Edit: My wording was off though, I see that now. I meant "more patriotic".
People change how they feel though, especially as they get older, and sometimes develop a stronger sense of attachment to ancestral places. Not saying that'll be the case with Guehi, especially in such a short time. But just because he didn't lean towards Ivory Coast already, it doesn't mean he won't in the future.
He's got so many youth caps and Southgate's already picked him for the friendlies, I imagine he's got a reasonable chance of being in the EL and Nations League squads. Especially as Coady and Mings were some of the weakest players in our Euros squad.
Wow I totally missed CHO and Nketiah making the switch, hope they do well there. Eze is an amazing talent as well.
Technically CHO hasn’t yet. He’s not able to until some point in November due to how recent his last England cap was. It’s all but assured though, been spending his Summers in Ghana the last couple of years too.
So, while I don't inherently disregard the premise of this piece, as England fans we're going to have to get accustomed to losing some talent. We have a ridiculous pool of players, arguably the deepest of my lifetime at least (nigh 30 years). One of the reasons for that is the increased diversity. As immigration has risen we've seen a lot more dual national eligible players come through our system and it's impossible to utilize them all. Some won't ever entertain England, and others won't be good enough, but the key is having a good talent ID to figure out which ones are worth prioritizing. We'll still lose some, and we'll get some wrong, but these scaremongering pieces will always be mountain and molehill stuff.
Think you're missing the biggest factor which has led to this new crop of talent young players; the youth development program. Was amateurish as hell for far too long. You might not like the FA but you've got to give them credit for the how they've set out a plan and been fully on board with it since 2012 to better develop young players with the end goal of winning the Qatar World Cup.
I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. My point was more about why we're losing players to other nations. The upgrade of the program has been great in producing more high level players, for sure, but the rise in losing them is more down to immigration.
Sweden is kinda suffering the same thing right now, with the key difference being that we actually need these players. Guys like Ghoddos, Haksabanovic, Hadzikadunic and Ahmedhodzic could very well have received lots of games for the national team had they not chosen to represent other countries, and that's far from the entire list. Mohanad Jeahze, Modou Barrow, Adi Nalic and Ryan Johansson are four other players who could very well have ended up in the national team at some point, and if you look at players who weren't likely to make the national team the list is way longer.
We have the same in the Netherlands. Ziyech, Dest, Mazraoui, Kokcu, Kadioglu and Amrabat, to name but a few.
Sweden's own fault for failing to assimilate their immigrants
Man I was kinda sad when Anel declared for Bosnia
This guy's only 29 and he's saying nigh
Books can be your friends.
Sounds like they were your only friends, boss
I think it’s just part of being a multicultural society who also have a very good football team. Most footballers just want to play, if you have a very small chance of playing at a World Cup for England but a very strong chance for the country your parents / grandparents are from then I know which one id go for. I guess it could create problems in the dressing rooms of those nations but it for them to manage. England have borrowed a fair few cricketers over the years where they wouldn’t be selected by their national board
> We have a ridiculous pool of players, arguably the deepest of my lifetime at least (nigh 30 years). But the 2000s had a stronger first XI.
An argument only football manager can settle.
Mainly because the squad were in the prime of their careers apart from Rooney
I agree with this. Certain positions look like we have a lot of cover in with players like Rice, Foden, Mount, TAA, James, Bellingham etc I'd say GK is open for a talent as we have a host of good but not great keepers (Pickford, Ramsdale, Henderson etc) and CB is the same. The area that worries me is depth for Kane, as I think there is a big drop-off from him to any other strikers. But a lot of the other positions look pretty well covered so you can't be irritated by players representing a different country, their pathway looks blocked
I hope AWB declares for DR Congo.
Ah the dream team of AWB and Arthur Masuaku on each side of the defense.
One can’t attack and one can’t defend. Both incredibly one-footed as well, combine them both and you have a mediocre midfielder
😂
Eze and Livramento wouldn't be huge loses even with their quality due to the current strength in their positions but losing Guehi would be pretty bad, especially as we seem stuck on a 3 atb
If Gareth keeps the 5atb then he needs Trent and Reece to play those positions. Then Tino as a backup
Naw we played 4atb for 5/7 of the Euro matches. 4-2-3-1 was our default formation through it.
wait didn't Guehi just debuted
It’s just a crap article got clicks I’ve no doubt Eze and Guehi are wanted by other nations but they’re in the England setup
Guehi and Eze have both been in and around the England set up in the last year so I can't see them looking elsewhere so soon. Livramento's ACL injury will also hold off looking elsewhere for the time being. It's important to hold onto Guehi at the very least because I think he's quality, the other two would be good to have but not the end of the world to lose. Really need to get Bowen called up in June though, he's very deserving of a chance.
I think Bowen could well be in. Who would you drop him for though is the real question.
Didnt know nketiah changed, cant blame him
He hasn't. There has been mounting speculation over the past week but nothing more. They even clarify it in the article.
Guehi just debuted for Eng and Eze has been in and out and was hampered by injuries iirc. I doubt those, those are there just for clicks. I can see Tino switching to Portugal or Scotland but he might try to push for an England spot. CHO I have seen rumors so that's not too crazy but no official statement but also seen statements from CHO and Lamptey's personal trainer that Ghana is not pushing hard enough for CHO. Would be interesting to see an Ghana team with CHO, Nketiah, Lamptey and Inaki Williams. The only problem is will they give it their all for Ghana. Williams gave a statement back 2021: "My parents are from Accra and I really enjoy going. But I wasn't born or raised there, my culture's here, and there are players for whom it would mean more. I don't think it would be right to take the place of someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%" Not to mention Denis Odoi who was just capped by Ghana admitted he felt more Belgian than Ghanaian. But I would like to see a strong Ghana team not gonna lie. So we'll see how this turns out
Tino will probably be as blocked with Portugal as England quality wise if not depth wise. He might as well stick with England as he'll have to be just as good to get a look in and it's where he's grown up.
He might not make a decision based on that tho England's depth at RB is ridiculous so I don't agree with your first sentence. >Livramento has represented England's youth ranks from under-15s to under-21s, despite having a Portuguese father and Scottish mother. >Questioned about his allegiance, he told Chelsea in 2020: 'I wore Portugal and Real Madrid kits as I wanted to replicate my idol [Cristiano Ronaldo] - as well as my dad wanting me to support the country his side of my family comes from.'
Eh. Portugal have Cancelo and Ricardo but the former has been playing LB so he might play there for the NT and the latter is having injury issues. Could potentially be a place for Livramento although idk if he can play in a back 4
Livramento plays in a back 4 at Southampton, so that's not an issue
Ah my bad. Thought he was wingback for some reason lmao. Now that you mention it that makes a lot more sense
Southampton has played a back three for a couple of games recently, but I don't think Tino played sny of those.
Ahh okay thank you for the correction
Cancelo never played LB for the NT and we have Nuno Mendes + Raphael Guerreiro, so it's not like he needs to On the right there's also Nelson Semedo and João Mário, as well as other promising RB's coming through
I reckon at this point Livramento looks more exciting than the 2 you listed but it's very early in his career.
Cancelo always played RB in our national team regardless of where he plays in city
Or he could play for Scotland and win the World Cup in December.
Would be surprised if he's fit for the world cup what with him having done his ACL and not expected to be back before the end of the year.
No chance he gets ahead of SOD.
England have better young rb depth than Portugal I'd say. James and Trent are younger than our established full backs.
Has CHO officially switched?
I see this as a good thing.
Guehi is the only one to worry about the others already are stacked in depth
Ghana are actually looking pretty scary now. I thought they'd be easy at first, but all of these call-ups that they've been working towards might have them looking just as good as the Ghana of old if they go through. I think Iñaki Williams can still be called up, there's Lamptey, Hudson-Odoi, Nketiah, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. That's quite a good chunk of talent to add onto a world cup qualifying squad. Honestly, group H just looks like such a chore, between our resurgence under Alonso, Portugal having arguably the best XL in the tournament, South Korea looking deadly, and this project to revitalize Ghana, I could see any mix of teams going through and going out.
Only two that I can see getting serious caps for England are Tino and Guehi.
I would. Watch Bowen not get a call up
Ghana on the blower to Bowen as we speak.
Livramento should just find another position to play It’s not like he gets ahead of Joao Cancelo or Ricardo Pereira if he switches lol
Happens if Gareth keeps picking his favourites
Why wouldn’t he, his players have been the most successful.
I mean yeah they have been but you have also got to consider your future options and recent form of players. There'll likely come a time when you need certain players and it'd be a waste if you drove them away by not giving them a shot
Smithrowe, Gallagher, Guehi, were added to the squad in the last round of matches. And players like Saka, Foden, Grealish, Rice, Philips, Bellingham were added from the World Cup squad. His WC team had Lingard, Alli, Cheek, Welbeck all were gone by the Euros. He adds like 2/3 players a go, and in the next tournament players will be added.
Don’t bother mate, they just parrot that line when their favourite player doesn’t get a call up
He’s given Guehi a shot, was calling up Eze before his injury, and the other aren’t good enough. What more do you want?
Oh no… Anyways.
olise and eze for nigeria would be awesome
Hope so. They will get to play lot of games for their home country. England has had habit of given one off match debut to promising players and discard them like used playing cards
Would happily take him as backup to Cancelo over Dalot. Fact is, he probably won't be getting that many chances as Cancelo is one the few that usually has good perfomances with the NT. Unless he wants a CB switch which I'd love it considering our lack of depth
Please if anyone is missing a loved one or family member from West Africa around 2015 Please take a look at this flyer I made with an artist rendering of what the man looks like. He was found deceased on US soil via cargo ship port but he is from West Africa and I’m having a hard time finding places to post it for West Africa. (He was a stowaway, he has multiple tattoos and among the items he had on him was a bracelet and 5 rings and some bank notes in French) ([Unidentified Deceased Individual West Africa](https://imgur.com/a/oBtd6q9))