Talented football players England could lose

Roberto Martinez has brought back up the loss of Victor Moses from England’s national setup to Nigeria. Even going as far to say that he called Fabio Capello to urge him to pick Victor Moses for England. The nail in the coffin, however, was Stuart Pearce leaving him on the bench for an England U21 match.

• England U16 – 1
• England U17 – 15 (9 goals)
• England U19 – 12 (2 goals)
• England U21 – 1

Victor Moses is not the only player lost to another nation after representing England at youth level. Emmanual Frimpong rejected England after Stuart Pearce waited months to call him up, before declaring for Ghana. There is, however, the very strong (and valid) argument that both players were born in the countries that they now play for currently – but who else have England whiffed with?

Then there was the case of Blackpool winger Matt Phillips who starred for England at the U20 World Cup before getting frustrated at the way he was being treated by Stuart Pearce at U21 level. He is now cap-tied to Scotland.

Past issues and other possible departures:

• Danny Welbeck was courted heavily by Ghana before turning out for England.
• Jonjo Shelvey was asked by Scotland (and Ireland).
• Josh McEachran has had the Scottish FA onto him.
• Raheem Sterling recently met with the head of the Jamaican FA.
• Wilfried Zaha is also eligible for the Ivory Coast, who are after him.
• Chuks Aneke has publicly met with Nigerian FA officials.
• Michael Keane has played for Ireland at youth level, yet to be capped beyond England U19 level.
• William Keane is still eligible for Ireland, despite representing England through U21 level.
• Jordan Graham has represented Ireland at U15 level.
• Reise Allassani has represented Ireland at U15 level.
• Dan Crowley has represented Ireland at U15/6 level.

As for those Roberto Martinez quotes on Victor Moses. Here they are in full:

“His experience with the Under 21s was frustrating for him, and for us, because, from our point of view, we could see he was something special. He offers something very different.

“Football is a matter of opinions, so there is no right or wrong over whether he should have been tied to England. But it is difficult to find players like him, not just in England, and I am sure he could have adapted to anything.

“If he continues to have the same impact at Chelsea, he will get plenty of chances to show his talent. He is ready to compete at that level and show what he is about.

“It is no surprise to see him playing at the highest level, and you have to remember he is still a very young man in football terms. He is going to be as good as he wants to be. You just have to admire his mentality. Nothing fazes him, and the best is yet to come, that is for sure.

“Victor is a quite unique player. When you work with him you realise he is not a normal footballer, not a typical modern winger. He is an old-fashioned type of winger with incredible raw talent which allows him to go past people. He brings real penetration to the wide positions.

“He is an old-fashioned winger, he has got incredible raw talent and can go past people. He brings penetration in one v one situations. All teams are well set-up so you need players like that and they do not appear very often, even in Spain and Holland it is rare to find that.”

“He grew a lot when he came here, it took time to adapt to the way we want to play, but once he got that he became a very decisive player at a very young age. It shows his mentality, nothing fazes him. The best is yet to come, he can become a major player from minute one until minute 90.”

“When you are fighting relegation that’s the biggest test you will find in football. I saw how he reacted, he was ready to take on that responsibility. The pressure of winning a game in the Champions League or to win the title becomes easier after that.