Mikel Arteta

[SAFCMarc]

Surely he can now apply for an english passport and play for us. Spain dont want him and he is uncapped

Has been in England since around 2005.

Would add a great option to our midfield.

[craig_24/7_safc]

He would walk into to most natinal teams!


has any team took advantage of this rule yet?

[ollie c]

the unmistakeable stench of desperation, lads.

You are dead right though...I suspect we will have to revert to some underhand skullduggery to EVER amount to owt intrernationally.

[thecozmo]

[Swagga Like Us]

There's examples of it in lots of International sides:

Zidane, Desailly and Vieira weren't born in France.

Seedorf, Kluivert and Davids were all from Surinam.

There's a decent amount of players in the German side who weren't born in Germany.

Deco was born in Brazil but plays for Portugal, as were Pepe and Liedson.

Ibrahimovic is Bosnian but plays for Sweden.

I don't think Arteta would play for England though, as even though he's 28, he'll probably still hold aspirations of someday breaking into the Spanish side.

[thecozmo]

Originally Posted by Swagga Like Us

There's examples of it in lots of International sides:

Zidane, Desailly and Vieira weren't born in France.

Seedorf, Kluivert and Davids were all from Surinam.

There's a decent amount of players in the German side who weren't born in Germany.

Deco was born in Brazil but plays for Portugal, as were Pepe and Liedson.

Ibrahimovic is Bosnian but plays for Sweden.

I don't think Arteta would play for England though, as even though he's 28, he'll probably still hold aspirations of someday breaking into the Spanish side.

[TartanMackem]

Originally Posted by SAFCMarc

Surely he can now apply for an english passport and play for us. Spain dont want him and he is uncapped

Has been in England since around 2005.

Would add a great option to our midfield.

No.

Reason A) There's a gentleman's agreement between the Home Nations that players have to have a blood line, or have moved to the country as a child. Nacho Novo did not represent Scotland for this reason.

Reason B) He's already represented Spain at u21 and other levels. That alone doesn't disqualify him from playing for another country, but he had to already have the dual nationality prior to playing for the U21s. In other words, he needed to be eligible for both England and Spain prior to playing for the Spanish U21, U19s etc etc. This is to allow players who were born with dual nationality to change, but prevent someone moving and then acquiring another nationality in order to play.