Adnan Januzaj

Robbie

Robbie

New member
Tonite said:
His parents are Albanians.
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Was he born in Albania? Nope

Did he go to school in Albania? Nope

Did he at least get any sort of footballing education from an Albanian club, or youth national side? Nope

The answer to the above three questions is Belgium, so he's Belgian. If he were to choose Albania, he would be unfairly taking the spot of a player who went through the Albanian footballing system. Sure their national side isn't as strong, but it might get there someday.
 
Jenks

Jenks

Senior Member
If he was born and raised in Belgium, he'd have to have lived a seriously sheltered life to be more Albanian than Belgian just because his parents are.
 
Indignado

Indignado

New member
Robbie said:
Was he born in Albania? Nope

Did he go to school in Albania? Nope

Did he at least get any sort of footballing education from an Albanian club, or youth national side? Nope

The answer to the above three questions is Belgium, so he's Belgian. If he were to choose Albania, he would be unfairly taking the spot of a player who went through the Albanian footballing system. Sure their national side isn't as strong, but it might get there someday.
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Your logic is flawed. He can choose whichever country he wants. If he feels more Albanian, he should choose Albania. If not, then not. It has nothing to do with fairness. The clubs don't care if their youth players are going to play for the country where they went through the youth ranks, they see it as an investment in the future of the club. You could just as well argue that players like Bagnack, Dongou or Babunski shouldn't play for their respective home countries because they've spent most of their youth career at Barça but that's nonsense.

Jenks said:
If he was born and raised in Belgium, he'd have to have lived a seriously sheltered life to be more Albanian than Belgian just because his parents are.
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I was born and raised in Switzerland and I still feel more Albanian than Swiss. When I go to Kosova or Albania I instantly feel at home because the mentality of the people is very different from the Western European one, much more open-minded and communal, and people who were raised in Western countries were still raised by their parents and have their genes so it's normal to feel more like the nationality of the parents. It's perfectly fine if people feel more at home in the country they were raised in but I think most Albanians or Yugoslavs would agree with me. Apart from the fact that Albanians and people from the Balkans in general are faced with extreme prejudice in some countries.
 
Robbie

Robbie

New member
A difference of opinion, then. I believe that a national team should reflect the strength of their league and youth system; and failing that, at least have players that were born or raised there.
 
Martindn

Martindn

New member
Had a nice game in U21's. Would prefer him to get some first team at least though, has to better than having Welbeck on left wing.

 
Jenks

Jenks

Senior Member
Did you see the game? Rossiter was meant to have been fantastic for Liverpool, still only 16.
 
Jenks

Jenks

Senior Member
According to Gary Lineker he was speaking to Hodgson and there's a possibility that Januzaj could play for England in 2015. That doesn't sound right to me, I'm pretty sure the Home Nations Agreement wouldn't allow for it, and I seriously doubt he would want to either.
 
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