Providing he stays at City. Just saying, if France continue to not pick him, there seems to be politics with Spain too. Possible? He’ll be 29 when eligible, so he’ll have a good few years in him. It’s an area where England are weak. Longshot, but possible.
Aymeric Laporte will be eligible to play for England in 2 & a half years
- Thread starter Schmeichel's Cartwheel
- Start date
Would he even want to play for England?
Sure the Daily Mail will be totally behind this...
Depends on how much he likes it here I suppose? Plenty of Brazilians have switched nationality, Pepe, Jorginho, tons for Ukraine & Russia. Higuain switched from France to Argentina. Long shot yes, but possible, especially considering the depth France have at CB & Deachamps really doesn’t seem to rate him, he’s picked Sakho, Rami & Mangala over him in the past. Seems to be non-football reasons why he can’t get a look in.
Is he eligible for Spain too?
No, he won’t. Home nations agreement.
Not only this but it’s a silly unprecedented suggestion
He didn’t switch at all did he?
Born in France to Argentine parents, left to go home at 10 months old.
Eh? We see players switch from England to Scotland/Wales/Ireland all the time. Half their squads are English.
I wouldn’t call it unprecedented really as there have been several instances in the past with the likes of Mikel Arteta or Angel Rangel for Wales. None of whom were eligible. The precedence is there, Laporte will never be eligible for England.
Eh? None of whom have switched due to naturalization. Please go learn the rules. Google home nations agreement, and read it.
Additionally, Laporte is capped at official youth level for France meaning to be eligible for a one time switch he would have to have been eligible for his new country at the time of his youth caps. Was he eligible for England back then? No, so there is two rules which mean he will never be eligible for England.
What's this then? Edit: (just saw your post which explained it)
No Frenchies allowed?
Read it and understand it?
But but... Maguire & Mings!
Remember when there were calls for Januzaj to play for England
The home nations have an agreement which means naturalized citizens can’t play for them. To qualify you have to have spent 5 years in education in one of the respective countries before 18. Laporte obviously does not meet that. Nor Arteta, Januzaj, Angel Rangel, Junior Hoillett etc and hence none of them were ever eligible. The media just never learns from their stupidity.
Still not too late for Almunia
Maybe independence from Scotland and Northern Ireland is the best thing. Let's get the next Messi playing for England. Scotland can have Haggis McGee playing for them if they want.
Mikel Arteta 
Classic. I think N’Zonzi was another one.
Classic. I think N’Zonzi was another one.Stones is better anyway.
Julio Arca and Franck Quedrue all over again.
Would need to change his name to Albert Thedock
If you smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellll, what Thedock is cooking
Yeah, but the government can just change the rules, innit. Stop being such a Debbie Downer, I think Laporte would be great for England, and anyone who says otherwise just doesn’t care about England, especially you, Limerick City Kid.
Emilo Martinez was the player touted in the press recently.
Yep Nzonzi was the closest as Big Sam was going to call him up for his only squad in September 2016 and they only discovered late in the day he'd played for a France youth team that ruled him out.Mikel Arteta
It's an interesting one when Spain won euro 2008 with Marcos Senna at heart of their midfield and Germany had a couple of Brazilians play for them like Cacau so completely different to the naturalised Poles.
England never really gone down that route and it probably wouldn't be well received when you remember the stick Owen Hargreaves used to get in his early England career.
Suprised Spain haven't tried to tempt Laporte, perhaps they'll do it when Ramos retires from NT duty.
He will surely get number one spot for Argentina in the March qualifiers so won't be a tenuous link much longer. Steed Malbranque was another one from years back given he never got a senior French cap and played in the U.K for ages.
I think Di Canio was mentioned at one point.
Any chance Musiala will be lured away from England?
Cudicini was mentioned at one point too.
Yes. Germany are putting massive effort into luring him away. They're going to call him up to their senior squad in March. Low has even accosted him on the pitch after a match.
So with Brexit, will this agreement still be in play?
I really hope he does.
France has one of the most multiracial players for their country (different african players & french players). I'd love it if this multiracial approach starts at England more than just irish lad joining us.
France has one of the most multiracial players for their country (different african players & french players). I'd love it if this multiracial approach starts at England more than just irish lad joining us.
Yes, it has nothing to do with Brexit.
There’s only been two tbf, and Grealish and Rice are both far more English than Irish. Listen to their accents! Grealish is the perfect exhibit of a midlands man and Rice is cockney.
Yeah except bringing back war problems you wonder how good Great Britain would be in football if Irish, Welsh, Scotland and NI all mixed up. Add that the country is very multiracial as it is - it would lead to many more trophies.
For sure if all the home nations collaborated and shared resources including training grounds, technology and coaching personnel, and participated as GB/UK in major competitions, they’d have won and would continue to win many more trophies. Add some top class Welsh, NI and Scottish players to the likes of Kane, Sterling, Rashy, Foden etc, the UK would be far more successful in big international tournaments.
My impression too.
What I came away with, regarding this thread, from reading the wikipedia section was that, when Laporte becomes a British citizen, he can choose whether to play for England, Scotland, Wales or NI, as neither he, a parent or a grandparent were born on the territory
Surely that can't have been what @limerickcitykid wanted me to take away from it?
Thank you, that covers it.