Thursday, 10th October, 2013
England face a grim future of just "three or four" home-grown talents in the national squad if the trend of naturalising foreign-born players gathers pace, Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp has warned.
Redknapp's comments come amid the mania surrounding Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj, who could potentially play for England by 2018 via a process of naturalisation.
England midfielder Jack Wilshere yesterday effectively spoke out against that notion, claiming that "living five years in England doesn't make you English".
The statement prompted a backlash of sorts – especially in social media circles – but Redknapp was today quoted by the BBC as saying: "I'm in Jack Wilshere's corner.
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"I can see that happening in the future, where it'll be three or four English boys and the rest will be lads who have come in here at 16 or 17.
"They're the cream of the crop abroad and we'll be taking them from Belgium or France or wherever we can bring them in from, and it won't be an England team anymore. So I'm absolutely with Jack.
"There are several clubs in the Premier League now, whose youth teams are absolutely full up with players who are bought in from other clubs abroad, and we'll end up with no English kids in the team.
"The English kids, who go to Academies at eight, nine, 10 years of age and who are striving to be professionals, there'll be no future for them in the England team if we allow this to happen."
Januzaj's rise to fame came following an exciting pre-season capped with two goals against Sunderland to help Manchester United to a 2-1 win.
The 18-year-old is eligible to play for his native Belgium, with family ties enabling him to qualify for Albania, Turkey and Serbia as well.
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