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British Players with African Heritage

Keplaz

Well-Known Member
Random thread. But I was watching part of Tariq Lamptey's interview and it got me thinking. He's playing really well for Brighton and looks a prospect.

Internationally he can play for Ghana or England. So far he's picked England, but I wonder if that's the right choice. He plays right back and any young player in that position will only ever be back up to Trent.

I wonder if a lot of these boys make the wrong choice. I'm sure someone will point out exceptions but these guys often seem to get just a handful of caps for England but could have had loads if they'd declared for their other nationality.

Tammy Abraham will never be England's starting striker but could have done bits for Nigeria. Tomori won't get more caps for England but can no longer play for Nigeria or Canada.

People like Auba and Iwobi are rare. And you see the French players picking their parents nation far more than the English ones.

I think of people like Saka and wonder if the Three Lions is really the right choice long term. What do you guys think? What other players would have benefited or would benefit from playing for their other nationality?
 

Ciscoo

Active Member
They’ll probably hold out for now. Saka will almost certainly get a cap soon and Trent will surely move to midfield with all the RBs coming through.

At least these players eventually tend to opt for African nations when they can’t get a European cap. There are several decent NTs in Africa considering they aren’t always the diaspora players’ first choice. Occasionally it works out really well for late bloomers like Auba and Koulibaly.

I do wonder if the cup of nations is unpopular with managers though. Could be one factor.

Virtually nobody declares for Caribbean nations. That’s far more problematic IMO: they can barely tie down players who were born and raised there!
 
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GDeep™

League is very weak
Do these players even respect or rate the eligibility to play for an African or Caribbean nation? I don’t think so. Most are born here, grown up watching England, the dream is to wear that white shirt, even if it means it could only be once and could affect your future international prospects.

What is Saka waiting for, for example?

Then you look at the business side, being an England player brings in more opportunities, they say. Honestly, I think African representation only comes to these players’ minds when they know they’re too crap for England.
 

Juan Matas Beard

Pronouns: dat, guy 🫶
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
They’ll probably hold out for now. Saka will almost certainly get a cap soon and Trent will surely move to midfield with all the RBs coming through.

At least these players eventually tend to opt for African nations when they can’t get a European cap. There are several decent NTs in Africa considering they aren’t always the diaspora players’ first choice. Occasionally it works out really well for late bloomers like Auba and Koulibaly.

I do wonder if the cup of nations is unpopular with managers though. Could be one factor.

Virtually nobody declares for Caribbean nations. That’s far more problematic IMO: they can barely tie down players who were born and raised there!

The biggest mistake England can do is move Trent out of his best position. It mirrors the clamour Beckham used to have to play CM where he wasn't as good.

Trent is best outwide where he can whip those crosses. Klopp would have played him as CM if he thought this was a good option. With a proper manager, Grealish and Foden would be certain starters in midfield.
 

Ciscoo

Active Member
The biggest mistake England can do is move Trent out of his best position. It mirrors the clamour Beckham used to have to play CM where he wasn't as good.

Trent is best outwide where he can whip those crosses. Klopp would have played him as CM if he thought this was a good option. With a proper manager, Grealish and Foden would be certain starters in midfield.

Ideally you wouldn’t move him but I don’t think Southgate has the tactical nous to get the best out of him offensively or defensively at RB anyway. Similar to Beckham, I can’t see him being played the same way as at club level.

I’d much prefer guys like Grealish, Maddison, Foden and RLC, but we can’t seem to get away from this idea of needing two DMs. Having a defender playing there is probably more realistic for us at the moment.
 
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Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
The biggest mistake England can do is move Trent out of his best position. It mirrors the clamour Beckham used to have to play CM where he wasn't as good.

Trent is best outwide where he can whip those crosses. Klopp would have played him as CM if he thought this was a good option. With a proper manager, Grealish and Foden would be certain starters in midfield.

Also Maddison as well, I hate him but he’s a quality player linking the play.

If anything Mount is the worst of the English attacking midfield options. It’s baffling how much love he gets from Southgate. Euro 2021 should ideally be:

Henderson
Trent - Gomez - Mings (left footed) - Chilwell
Rice
Maddison - Grealish
Sancho - Kane - Sterling

Lot of holes in that team especially in the back line and goalkeeping but the firepower is unreal on the rest of the pitch.

Maddison for me should be key, he’s dropped deeper for Leicester and seems to link play a lot more than he initially did.

Southgate will go Rice-Henderson though with Mount in front and people will wonder why they’ve only threatening from set pieces.
 

amigo

Active Member
Do these players even respect or rate the eligibility to play for an African or Caribbean nation? I don’t think so. Most are born here, grown up watching England, the dream is to wear that white shirt, even if it means it could only be once and could affect your future international prospects.

What is Saka waiting for, for example?

Then you look at the business side, being an England player brings in more opportunities, they say. Honestly, I think African representation only comes to these players’ minds when they know they’re too crap for England.
Many of them do respect or have some emotional attachment to their nations of origin but it comes down to cold hard cash and training facilities, coaching environment etc. An international player for England will on the whole be better paid and coached than if they choose the African country. So they start with England mostly (and also it's close to home if they are residing in England). Only when they realise their chances are limited for the senior team do they switch back to the African country. Saka for example is just breaking into Arsenal now and probably thinks he has a good chance of becoming a regular in the full England squad. Economics trumps the heart.
 

9jagooner

Well-Known Member
Many years ago, this may have been a concern. We saw players like John Fashanu, Salako, Ugo Ehiogu, Agbonlahon, choose England ahead of Nigeria. Don't know much about the economics but from football POV, they would have had better international careers had they chosen Nigeria. Agbolanhor and Fashanu may have even gone to the World Cup with Nigeria- Check out Ekoku who went on to win a Nations Cup Gold medal and went to the World Cup with Nigeria in 94.

These days, it's not much of an issue with many as the players are now taking up their options. In Nigeria for example, we have Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, Iwobi, etc who if they stay fit and keep playing well, will go to next World Cup if Nigeria qualifies.
We also have Zaha who now plays for Cote d'Ivoire. I believe unlike back in the day when we had only few players playing in European leagues, we now have a number of players in Europe and so when Iwobi for example comes to play for the Super Eagles, he is in same team with players he's used to playing with/against and quality coaches too.

For Bukayo, it's a bit different. The role he plays is one which Nigeria has quite a number of talents. Not sure he'll make Nigeria's first team unless he starts with the U23s which is probably where he'll start from should he choose to represent Nigeria today.
 

AberGooner

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland

Player:Gabriel
I saw an interview with Saka where he was asked if he was British or Nigerian and he said Nigerian but I guess it makes more sense to pick England considering he'll probably have more guaranteed chances of playing in tournaments.
There's a new rule whereby you can change nationality as long as you haven't played more than 3 times for a country before the age of 21. Be interesting to see how many players take advantage of that.
 

A_G

Rice Rice Baby 🎼🎵
A-M CL Draft Campeón 🏆
This is also an interesting question with respect to France as well. They have a lot of players who could be eligible for African nations.

I wonder if, with the benefit of hindsight, Benzema would've opted for Algeria instead of France.
 

9jagooner

Well-Known Member
I saw an interview with Saka where he was asked if he was British or Nigerian and he said Nigerian but I guess it makes more sense to pick England considering he'll probably have more guaranteed chances of playing in tournaments.
There's a new rule whereby you can change nationality as long as you haven't played more than 3 times for a country before the age of 21. Be interesting to see how many players take advantage of that.
What "tournaments" will he be guaranteed of playing if he chooses England?

You're right, the new generation British youngsters tend to be more connected to the country of descent. Not sure if it's a trend thing
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
This is also an interesting question with respect to France as well. They have a lot of players who could be eligible for African nations.

I wonder if, with the benefit of hindsight, Benzema would've opted for Algeria instead of France.

With the benefit of hindsight he wouldn't have tried to blackmail his teammates and would have a World Cup medal right now.
 

AberGooner

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland

Player:Gabriel
What "tournaments" will he be guaranteed of playing if he chooses England?

You're right, the new generation British youngsters tend to be more connected to the country of descent. Not sure if it's a trend thing
Ok maybe not "guaranteed" playing time but England tend to qualify more often than Nigeria for the World Cup for instance so more chance of making a tournament squad.
 

A_G

Rice Rice Baby 🎼🎵
A-M CL Draft Campeón 🏆
With the benefit of hindsight he wouldn't have tried to blackmail his teammates and would have a World Cup medal right now.
It's not just that, he said himself he's Algerian at heart and only French in the sporting sense.
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
It's not just that, he said himself he's Algerian at heart and only French in the sporting sense.

Still think with the power of hindsight he'd chose France and not do the Valbuena stuff. It's easy to say this after watching France win the World Cup with a worse striker, he's definitely bitter about it seeing how he chats sh*t about Giroud.
 
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9jagooner

Well-Known Member
Ok maybe not "guaranteed" playing time but England tend to qualify more often than Nigeria for the World Cup for instance so more chance of making a tournament squad.
Not really. Since Nigeria first qualified for the World Cup in 1994, we've only failed to qualify for one competition (2006) same number as England (1994) in same time period.

With Nigeria, he's also likely to play with the U23s at the Olympics, a competition England hardly plays in/qualifies for. Plus the African Cup of Nations.

All this is ofcourse based on if he makes the team.
 

AberGooner

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland

Player:Gabriel
Not really. Since Nigeria first qualified for the World Cup in 1994, we've only failed to qualify for one competition (2006) same number as England (1994) in same time period.

With Nigeria, he's also likely to play with the U23s at the Olympics, a competition England hardly plays in/qualifies for. Plus the African Cup of Nations.

All this is ofcourse based on if he makes the team.
Yeah fair enough. Chukwueze, Osimhen and Saka would be an exciting front 3 if he was to switch to you.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
A player is more marketable if they opt for England and the timing of the ACN can damage a player's position at their club. The various FA's in the African nations haven't exactly sold their teams either. I'd like a player to have the option of switching after 25 if he has less than 20 caps. Too many players burn bright and then fade into international obscurity.
 

9jagooner

Well-Known Member
A player is more marketable if they opt for England and the timing of the ACN can damage a player's position at their club. The various FA's in the African nations haven't exactly sold their teams either. I'd like a player to have the option of switching after 25 if he has less than 20 caps. Too many players burn bright and then fade into international obscurity.

I don't think the big footballing Nations in Africa are that desperate for British players to switch allegiance. Nations like Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire have quite a number of international stars. Asides from these, they also have players of dual Nationality in other countries too. At least for Nigeria, I know of German, Portuguese, Dutch born players who now want to play for Nigeria. The French speaking countries have similar players in France who now prefer to play for their country of descent rather than their country of birth. The competition is much more now.

A couple of years ago, the Nigerian FA actually held a training camp in London specifically for British born players to trial for the National teams. The English FA was furious and threw tantrums :lol::lol::lol:
The current Arsenal youth teams have over 10 players who could feature for Nigeria at some point.

Haruna Lukman at Liepzig could also play for Nigeria but the competition is fierce now he is not even guaranteed a place. The horizon has changed from say 10 to 20 years ago when we would probably be begging these players to switch
 

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