Not sure how Irish Lawrenson was/is.

Let's do this. Arteta for England, quality footballer.

Hahaha

Did he really say that? I'd be all for seeing Arteta in an England shirt, as long as it was at the expense of Gerrard.

if the Germans can play Turks and Brazilians, then why not?

I woulda had him at Chelsea let alone England! How f**king greedy to Spain want to be with their great midfield players FFS.

if the Germans can play Turks and Brazilians, then why not?

They have Poles in their team too - Klose and Podolski!

They have Poles in their team too - Klose and Podolski!

Plus a Ghanian in Jerome Boetang.

Getting back to the question over Arteta I feel that he should be considered. He would be a valuable option for capello, and may actually help England in the long run.

Don't want the England team to go down that road to be honest..... However would like to see him at Chelsea good player :)

Wales did it with George Berry and Pat van den Hauwe. Oh, and Darren Barnard. They were all about as Welsh as Arteta is English.

Talking of Barnard, Bale's goal for Spuds yesterday reminded me of this epic for Barnsley:

All this stuff about the German team is a bit silly

Where was Boateng born? Berlin

Where was Ozil born? Gelsenkerchin

Gomez was born in Swabia to a Spanish father

Aogo was born in Karlsruhe

Tasci was born in Germany

Trochowski, Podolski, and Klose were all from German families and moved to Germany before they were entered grade school

Cacau is the only one I can think of that is really like a hired gun. But if the Germans are really enterprising to call him up, then I say why not. In the modern world, the movement of people between countries is constant. Nobody is slating the United States or Australia for having Italians, Greeks and Nigerians play for their countries, nor should they. Just because these guys are first generation, and not third, doesnt make the situation any different. It is, however, pretty remarkable that their football team has reaped the rewards of immigration to Germany so much.

Arteta is different for obvious reasons, but why is Lawreson sticking his oar in given that he played for the best team he was good enough for?

Why isnt the xenophobia being applied to one of the best players in the England 2006 WC team?

Hargreaves is from my hometown, Calgary, Alberta, Canada........ funny no debate occured over him from my recollection (though I didnt really read a whole lot of UK press then admittedly).

Why isnt the xenophobia being applied to one of the best players in the England 2006 WC team?

:D Have a word!

Why isnt the xenophobia being applied to one of the best players in the England 2006 WC team?

Hargreaves is from my hometown, Calgary, Alberta, Canada........ funny no debate occured over him from my recollection (though I didnt really read a whole lot of UK press then admittedly).

Quote from Wikipedia

Hargreaves was born in Calgary, Alberta, as the youngest of three children of Margaret and Colin Hargreaves, who had emigrated from the United Kingdom at the start of the 1980s.His father played football for the Bolton Wanderers youth side and also for the Calgary Kickers of the Canadian Soccer League. He is the only member of his family born in Canada. His brother Darren and his mother were both born in Wales, his other brother Neil and his father were born in England.

If that information is correct then Hargreaves is much more English than he is Canadian

As for Arteta, I think he would be a great addition to the England team. He's had his injury problems but I believe he is one of the best midfielders in the premier league. Only problem is where would he fit in the current formation? If we was to play 4-2-3-1 like other nations I think he could be the man just behind the forward.

If that information is correct then Hargreaves is much more English than he is Canadian

Well hewas born and raised in Calgary until he was sixteen, so thats over half his life as he is only 29... After which he moved to Germany for about 10 years.....and then England......so in fact he is more German than British.....

I dont give a sod where his parents are from, my mom is British but I was born and raised Canadian (Like Hargreaves) so that makes us as British as the East Indian chap who works in my office......or Arteta.....

Also, he was going to play for Wales under-21 before being approached by England, so its not like he was holding out to play for England anyways......

I agree with Barry. Hargreaves shouldn't be anywhere near the England team and nor should Arteta. I don't agree that you can play for the country of your parent's nationality. If you move to a country before a certain age and live there for a certain amount of time (arguments will be around what those thresholds should be - personally I would say before 16 and live there for say 7 years maybe) then I think you should maybe qualify.

Well hewas born and raised in Calgary until he was sixteen, so thats over half his life as he is only 29... After which he moved to Germany for about 10 years.....and then England......so in fact he is more German than British.....

I dont give a sod where his parents are from, my mom is British but I was born and raised Canadian (Like Hargreaves) so that makes us as British as the East Indian chap who works in my office......or Arteta.....

Also, he was going to play for Wales under-21 before being approached by England, so its not like he was holding out to play for England anyways......

Fair enough.

I would quite happily take players from other countries if they were good enough. Look at the English Cricket team which won the Twenty20 World Cup. 4 (Pietersen, Morgan, Lumb & Kieswetter) of the 15 man squad were born outside of England. Nasser Hussein and Andrew Strauss who have both captained England in recent times were also born outside England. If they are passionate about England and are an improvement on what we have then I think it's a no brainer.

I remember reading that Sven wanted Cudicini, Saha, Malbranque and Edu for his England squad at Euro 2004.

Compare them to the players we did take.

David James, Paul Robinson & Ian Walker (yes you did read that correctly) - Cudicini was miles better than the 3 of them in 2004 and would have been a great addition to the squad.

Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Darius Vassell & Emile Heskey - Saha may not have been better than Owen and Rooney but he would have been a better substitute than Heskey and Vassell and he had just finished a season where he scored 20 league goals so he was on form (something Heskey has yet to have been in his career.)

Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Joe Cole, Kieron Dyer - Malbranque probably wouldn't been an improvement on the players that were selected. As I previously stated it was Sven's idea he got numerous things wrong while England manager.

Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves - In my opinion Edu would have been great cover.

I lost interest in my own post but I may aswell post it now i typed it.

Hahaha my point is that if you thought it was ok for Hargreaves to play for ENgland then you're being a hypocrit if you think its not ok for Arteta and vice versa....

Personally Im on page with Loz. if you can play for a country you never even visited until you were close to being an adult... then whats the point of international football?

The best players from countries without strong national teams will just play for the nations where they play their league football.... usually a country with an already strong national team. So you just end up with a hybrid of club football where very few of the players are actually from the same country.....and if you need to improve your national team? Hell you just hit the international version of a transfer market, bollocks to actually trying to improve your national youth system. I mean Arteta is qualified for the England team because he has been there 5 years,......he moved when he was 23! Did those 5 years in England erase all trace of his Spanish citizenship?

I mean England is a perfect example, looking at foriegn options rather than the youth options right under nose!

There are a few of South African crickets playing for England right now, a couple of them even represented South Africa at junior level. As I see it, if both sides are keen, there shouldn't be a problem. The guy would have played 20 something full internationals by now if he wasn't born spanish. Hypothetically, if Ronaldo was keen in wearing the England jersy, people would be dancing in the street, so why not Areteta?

I agree with Barry. Hargreaves shouldn't be anywhere near the England team and nor should Arteta. I don't agree that you can play for the country of your parent's nationality. If you move to a country before a certain age and live there for a certain amount of time (arguments will be around what those thresholds should be - personally I would say before 16 and live there for say 7 years maybe) then I think you should maybe qualify.

Would that mean you had to play for Scotland, then?

Would that mean you had to play for Scotland, then?

No. It means I would have the choice to.

You could only improve the squad, Loz

You could only improve the squad, Loz

If he plays alongside Weir in the centre of defence he will also bring down the average age...