Wilshere wants English players for England, opposes FA move for Januzaj

Jack Wilshere speaking at a press conference on Tuesday

England and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has strongly opposed moves from the FA and Roy Hodgson to get players like Adnan Januzaj to play for the English national football team.

The 21-year-old said: “The only people who should play for England are English people. If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I am not going to play for Spain.”

Seeing naturalised players contribute greatly to the country in other sports, especially in cricket, the FA are looking at getting young talented foreign players at English clubs to play for them. But Wilshere was adamant that it was not the right way to go.

“We have to remember what we are. We are English. We tackle hard, are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat.

“We have great characters. You think of Spain and you think technical but you think of England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard. We have to remember that,” he added.

Januzaj, earlier this week, rejected a call-up from Belgium as he still hasn’t made a decision on which country he wants to represent at the international level.

It seems unlikely that 18-year-old would choose England as he will have to wait until 2018 to be eligible to play for The Three Lions.