Mikel Arteta for England!!

scudzilla

Everton's Spanish playmaker Mikel Arteta has said he would seriously consider playing for England if Fabio Capello ever came calling for him.

"I don't know what (Capello's) thoughts are," Arteta told BBC Sport. "If one day the opportunity comes, obviously I would have to consider it very seriously."

British media have linked the 28-year-old to a call-up since he gained British citizenship earlier this year.

Arteta has never played at full international level for his native Spain, who have a plethora of fine midfielders including Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas already in their European Championship and World Cup winning squad.

SOURCE : http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21082010/58/international-football-arteta-serious-england-call.html

scudzilla

Dunno about anybody else but to me this is seriously taking the piss, NO player should be allowed to play for any country just because they have become a citizen

mikemac

A big nah from me.

Carlo Cudicini is an excellent goalkeeper and I was saying that when he rarely got a game for Chelsea.
We had this same debate for Cudicini a number of years ago and thankfully it didn't happen, just isn't right.

Im_No_Superman

Any chance he has an Irish granny?

OPENROAD

scudzilla wrote: »

Dunno about anybody else but to me this is seriously taking the piss, NO player should be allowed to play for any country just because they have become a citizen

don't see any difference to it being a grand parent and not living in that country.

Actually see citizen as having more right imo

The_B_Man

Someone shoulda told him to get Norn Iron citizenship. That way he coulda chose to play for us too!!

Yakult

You'd be foolish not to call him up tbh

ArmaniJeanss

scudzilla wrote: »

plethora

Possibly the best word in the English language, and not used often enough in football.

Oat23

Im_No_Superman wrote: »

Any chance he has an Irish granny?

I'm sure S. Ireland could give him one of his since he has no use for them now.

JohnnyRyan99

Im sure Capello would never call up Arteta. He made a statement about Almunia saying he considered him Spanish and if he was going to get a call up it should be a Spanish one.... If he did call up Arteta he would be a serious hypocrite... But obviously if im honest... Arteta is better than any other English central mid currently involved in the setup IMO(so not Scholes)....

In my opinion Arteta could be a top midfieder for any country... Its just unfortunate that he happens to come from the same country as Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso and Fabregas... to name a few!

DOC09UNAM

I'm sure if Rooney was eligible to play for Ireland people would bite his hand off for him to play.

Stop being bitter just because it's England.

scudzilla

Not being bitter at all, just think that it's fcukin ridiculous that a player with NO heritage at all from England can end up playing for them.

DOC09UNAM

Sound fairly bitter to me tbh.

scudzilla

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Sound fairly bitter to me tbh.

entitled to your opinion, just like i'm entitled to ignore it

DOC09UNAM

Which you clearly didn't.

I'm just saying, If we got the chance to take someone, even arteta for instance, we'd bite his hand off for him to play for us, do you disagree?

scudzilla

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Which you clearly didn't.

I'm just saying, If we got the chance to take someone, even arteta for instance, we'd bite his hand off for him to play for us, do you disagree?

Sure, i think that any manager of one of the weaker nations like England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales would snap his hand off, doesn't mean the fans would like it.

What would happen for example if 6 players did this, all Spanish, and ALL came to play for Ireland.

If it came to the World cup and 6 of your side were Spanish can you honestly say you'd support them the same as you would a team full of Irish born and Bred players?

eagle eye

He has every right to play for a country he is a citizen of. It would be a sad state of affairs if you were forced to play for the country of your birth and had no choice in the matter.

DOC09UNAM

Paul McGrath, David O' Leary, Mark Lawrenson, John Aldridge, Tony Cascarino, Andy Townsend, Gary Breen.

You saying you didn't support any one of them?

scudzilla

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Paul McGrath, David O' Leary, Mark Lawrenson, John Aldridge, Tony Cascarino, Andy Townsend, Gary Breen.

You saying you didn't support any one of them?

Not one of them, hand on heart

DOC09UNAM

scudzilla wrote: »

Not one of them, hand on heart

Must be because you weren't born.

Either that or just plain sillyness, they were some of our greatest players, and paul mcgrath especially put his body on the line every time he played for Ireland, to say he didn't deserve to play for Ireland, after the commitment he showed is laughable.

scudzilla

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Must be because you weren't born.

Either that or just plain sillyness, they were some of our greatest players, and paul mcgrath especially put his body on the line every time he played for Ireland, to say he didn't deserve to play for Ireland, after the commitment he showed is laughable.

Sure, they had Irish relatives, and i still didn't support any of them, not like this Arteta guy who has NO English relatives.

And i was born

DOC09UNAM

scudzilla wrote: »

Sure, they had Irish relatives, and i still didn't support any of them, not like this Arteta guy who has NO English relatives.

And i was born

I'd say barely.

Have you examined Arteta's family tree??

He has English relatives.

scudzilla

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

I'd say barely.

Have you examined Arteta's family tree??

He has English relatives.

He has?? Most surprising, still wouldn't support them though

DOC09UNAM

See now that's just being stubborn, you've made one reason why you wouldn't, and then you find out that's wrong, and you still wouldn't, I'm done here, Can't talk sense into kids.

OPENROAD

scudzilla wrote: »

Not being bitter at all, just think that it's fcukin ridiculous that a player with NO heritage at all from England can end up playing for them.

But he lives there, someone might have a grand parent from a certain country, have never been to that country, doesn't live in that country, doesn't even know what goes on in that country, yet still plays for that country

therokerroar

scudzilla wrote: »

Not being bitter at all, just think that it's fcukin ridiculous that a player with NO heritage at all from England can end up playing for them.

Ireland wouldn't be able to field a team if they were selecting players based on that criteria.

MickShamrock

The_B_Man wrote: »

Someone shoulda told him to get Norn Iron citizenship. That way he coulda chose to play for us too!!

He has gotten British citizenship. So this means he can chose to play for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

MickShamrock

In all seriousness, if he can't get a game for Spain why should England be looking at him with the pool of talent they have at their disposal.

Optimalprimerib

scudzilla wrote: »

Sure, i think that any manager of one of the weaker nations like England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales would snap his hand off, doesn't mean the fans would like it.

What would happen for example if 6 players did this, all Spanish, and ALL came to play for Ireland.

If it came to the World cup and 6 of your side were Spanish can you honestly say you'd support them the same as you would a team full of Irish born and Bred players?

We did in 1990, except they were english not spanish

eZe^

He's not even that special, he's a dime a dozen player in most other leagues.

parker kent

scudzilla wrote: »

Sure, they had Irish relatives, and i still didn't support any of them, not like this Arteta guy who has NO English relatives.

And i was born

McGrath and O'Leary are obviously Irish. Read McGrath's book, it will explain it better than a post here from me will explain his Irishness.

Plus on a wider note, it is not rare for somebody to be born in another country but for their entire family to be from somewhere else, that somewhere being their "real" home. Perrotta of Italy is a great (Non-irish) example. He was born in Manchester, but is obviously Italian. Eamon De Valera was born in New York, is he not Irish either?

Guys playing for countries because they happen to work there is infinitely worse than somebody playing for the country of their family. Eduardo or any of the other Brazilians playing for other countries is just wrong.

parker kent

MickShamrock wrote: »

In all seriousness, if he can't get a game for Spain why should England be looking at him with the pool of talent they have at their disposal.

Because their talent pool is greatly exaggerated.

titan18

Being born in any country is an accident of birth.Where you live and spend your life is what should define your nationality.

My mom was born in London but lived there for about a year before her family returned back to Ireland.Are you saying just cos she wasn't born in Ireland,she isn't Irish, even though she's lived here her whole life.

If Arteta wants to play for England and Capello wants to call him up, he should be allowed to.For all we know, he could have a great love for the place, and after finishing his career, he could want to live and bring up his children there.Even if he doesn't, it's clear that he just wants to play football, no matter who for, he's better than a good few of the English midfielders.Considering that some players don't want to play internationally at all, it's nice to see someone wanting to play.

clived2

scudzilla wrote: »

And i was born

lol

Boskowski

eZe^ wrote: »

He's not even that special, he's a dime a dozen player in most other leagues.

That you Eamon?

Kingdom

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Paul McGrath, David O' Leary,
You saying you didn't support any one of them?

That's the second time I've seen this. Why is McGrath and in this case O'Leary being brought into this argument? You do know the blokes were unfortunate to be born over there, but raised over here yeah ?
Does my bloody head in.

Edit, Parker Kent said it already

DOC09UNAM

Kingdom wrote: »

That's the second time I've seen this. Why is McGrath and in this case O'Leary being brought into this argument? You do know the blokes were unfortunate to be born over there, but raised over here yeah ?
Does my bloody head in.

Edit, Parker Kent said it already

That's kind of my point really, It doesn't matter where you're born, if you were paying attention you'd have realised i'm not the one giving out about it.

Helix

scudzilla wrote: »

Not being bitter at all, just think that it's fcukin ridiculous that a player with NO heritage at all from England can end up playing for them.

hes been living there how long now? and remind us, how long did half of the ireland players over the past 20 years live in the republic? hes got more right to play for england than most of jack charltons teams had to play for ireland

Sir Gallagher

What would motivate Arteta to play for England though? Yeah sure he's a citizen but i'm sure he still classes himself as Spanish, doesn't sit right with me at all.

Mezcita

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

What would motivate Arteta to play for England though? Yeah sure he's a citizen but i'm sure he still classes himself as Spanish, doesn't sit right with me at all.

The honour of playing in a European Championships/ World Cup? To be honest I think he has every right to play for England if they want him. He's lived there long enough and this scenario is nothing like the granny rule which seems to irritate loads of people.

MickShamrock

parker kent wrote: »

Because their talent pool is greatly exaggerated.

I know that, but Arteta isn't any better than anything they currently have.

ColeTrain

MickShamrock wrote: »

I know that, but Arteta isn't any better than anything they currently have.

Yes he is.

DOC09UNAM

He's better than barry.

parker kent

MickShamrock wrote: »

I know that, but Arteta isn't any better than anything they currently have.

He might be not any better at being English than they are, but he is better at football.

If he added the hallowed phrase "England International" to his name, he would be valued at £25million or more. He is better than Milner and Barry. He also has much better technique and ball retention than 95% of English players.

hitman79

Fantastic player but as an Everton fan i hope he doesn't play for England. He's getting 75k a week so we dont need the extra risk of him getting injured. And Everton players always get tapped up when playing for England. Jeffers/ Barmby/ Rooney and Lescott all thought they were world beaters after a few games for England and jumped ship. None have gone on to better things bar Rooney

mike65

Mark "Lauro" Lawrenson is against it, the hypocrite.

Columbia

scudzilla wrote: »

Dunno about anybody else but to me this is seriously taking the piss, NO player should be allowed to play for any country just because they have become a citizen

Jesus Christ mate, you make it sound like he walked up to the British embassy in Barcelona and yelled "one citizenship, please!" in a BBC accent. He's been living in Britain for most of his adult life.

I don't want to see him wear the jersey, but he is British if he wants to call himself so. Therefore if he, Capello and the fans are all up for it, then to say he has no right to play for them is naive beyond explanation.

steelcityblues

mike65 wrote: »

Mark "Lauro" Lawrenson is against it, the hypocrite.

Mike? How dare you?

The man was as Irish as Tom Finney!

scudzilla

Columbia wrote: »

Jesus Christ mate, you make it sound like he walked up to the British embassy in Barcelona and yelled "one citizenship, please!" in a BBC accent. He's been living in Britain for most of his adult life.

I don't want to see him wear the jersey, but he is British if he wants to call himself so. Therefore if he, Capello and the fans are all up for it, then to say he has no right to play for them is naive beyond explanation.

So why isn't he makin himself available to Wales or Scotland then?

Warper

Ya, cant see Arteta ever playin for England. He would look so out of place on that team, after all he can pass the ball.

Sir Gallagher

Mezcita wrote: »

The honour of playing in a European Championships/ World Cup? To be honest I think he has every right to play for England if they want him. He's lived there long enough and this scenario is nothing like the granny rule which seems to irritate loads of people.

Yeah i could see why he wants to play at international level but i doubt it's to do with his love for England.

The fact of the matter is he's not English so him playing for them would be a bit of a joke.