Arteta would consider playing for england

Pretty sure there are players in the Netherlands national team who weren't born in the Netherlands.

Don't think so and even if there are, they all have a strong connection with the Netherlands. And a bit of a rolli comment you make there tbh. If the whole Dutch team were players like Arteta who have fuck all to do with the country they (are willing to) play for the whole Dutch team would be a joke

There's apparently an agreement between the home nations that none will pick players who only qualify through residency, I think this could be a non starter tbh

I agree, i wouldn't want someone from another country representing England, but my point was that most other top countries do it, including the Netherlands (btw Siem de Jong was born in Switzerland and didn't move to the Netherlands til he was 6 - his parents are Dutch but he was born in Switzerland). Most of the top Dutch players from the past 30 years were born outside the country tbf

Germany seem to be on of the worst for it though, and Marcos Senna played for Spain when they won Euro 2008.

Your comment "if the whole Dutch team..." is pathetic, what has "the whole team" got to do with one player?

I dont see a problem with de jong, ok he was born in switzerland but firstly the dutch parents make it fine to begin with, add to that he spent most of his childhood in holland if he moved there when he was 6. your nationality is surely shaped by more than where you happened to be born and where you spent the years that as an adult you dont even remember? I reckon the years you spent the school are surely the most relevant in shaping who you are.

Vurnon Anita (Netherlands Antilles) and Edson Braafheid (Surinam) weren't born in the Netherlands as well but, like I said, have all very strong connection with the Netherlands. Like Siem de Jong they already had Dutch passports before they could say the word 'football'. That's something very different than somone who accidentally signs for an English club, stays a little longer than expected and wants to play for that nation just because his homeland won't call him up

I haven't got a problem with de Jong playing for the Netherlands, i was just making the point that he wasn't born in the Netherlands.

A lot of Netherlands players from the 80s/90s were born in Suriname (which at the time was under Dutch rule) to Surinamese parents but were elligable to play for the Netherlands because it was under Dutch rule.

Not also eligable to play for the Dutch because of that but also because they all moved to the Netherlands at very young age and thus were pretty much Dutch

We had the same kind of thing a few years back with Salamon Kalou but the question in that case was whether he was en exceptional talent. He didn't spend enough time in in here to get a Dutch passport the regular way but you can get a passport faster when you have something exceptional to offer to a country. van Basten wanted him the squad, so did Kalou himself but the Dutch government rejected it

I forgot about Kalou, that's pretty much the same thing as the Arteta situation, except the Arteta thing is pretty much all paper talk right now.

I wouldn't want Arteta in the national team for England, not only because he's not English and the only connection with the country is that he works here but also because he's a good player but right now i don't think he's any better than Lampard, Barry, Gerrard etc. and so rushing him into the national team is unneccessary.

have you failed to notice that lampard, barry gerrard etc doest function as a midfield and radical change - perhaps not change as radical as this mind - is fairly obviously needed

ha I was gonna say I bet he'd do alot more in an England shirt than Frank Lampard ever has.

nice, life, youth, beautiful, Arteta, I'm all for it.

I was against it but I guess as people rightly point out none of us batted an eyelid when Senna starred for Spain in Euro 2008.

I'm still not sure what to think. On one hand it is a bit of a pisstake, but on the other hand playing for a country where you've made your name and where you've presumably absorbed some of the local customs and traditions is probably less tenuous than playing for a country just because your grandma was born there.

I'd take them all, just to upset the Orchard's of the country.

Who else isn't a full international playing in the premier league who's half decent? We'll forward the thread to the F.A

n'zogbia. distin (hes not great but imagine how pissed off john terry would be)

edit actually it should be neither of them. muslims only.

cudicini would be eligible too. must be a fair few others

Why? Is it racist not to want foreigners playing for your country?

No but you appear to have answered your own question anyway, you tit.