In the modern era the debate over nationality is becoming harder and harder. Long gone are the days where birthplace dictated nationality, in today's world citizenship can be determined by ancestry, employment as well as political asylum. Adnan Januzaj’s dilemma is one faced by a number of rising stars in today’s game and it is beginning to become a complex issue for both the individual and countries concerned.

Jack Wilshere today waded into the debate by suggesting that all players to represent England should be born in England:

“The only people who should play for England are English people. If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I’m not going to play for Spain.”

Is he right?

Clearly this is as much a legal issue as it a moral one. It is easy to forget that we ourselves are a country of immigrants, a definite part of our culture and not something to take lightly. Wilshere may be right though, if someone has only lived here for five years can they really understand what it means to be English and in footballing terms the honour of donning the Three Lions? Wilshere clearly believes that Englishman are born and not manufactured, that there is a definite English mentality that cannot simply be taught:

“We have to remember what we are, we are English and we tackle hard and we are tough on the pitch and we are hard to beat. We have great characters. You think of Spain and they are technical, but you think of England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard."

The England first team squad is entirely English born as it stands, something at odds with almost all the major sports we as a country play. The national Rugby and Cricket teams are full of mainly South African born talent that have become eligible through and English mother or father. An England cricket team without Jonathan Trott or Kevin Pieterson would be almost unimaginable now and for fans of our national team we really cannot pass up the chance of delving into this new talent loophole.

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Our U-21 side already contains a handful of foreign born stars including Wilfried Zaha and Nathaniel Chalobah. These are some of the top young prospects in the Premier League and in my mind certain stars of the national side in the near future. It is unsurprising therefore that U-21 manager Gareth Southgate took a much more sensible stance on the matter:

“We have lots of boys in our squad who weren’t born here but whose families have fled here — and some wonderful stories,” Southgate said.

“Saido, Wilf, Nat Chalobah. All incredibly proud to play for England. The world is changing, families are moving more, working abroad.”

I think Southgate is right. Our world is becoming more and more globalised, the national boundaries are blurring and it is just a natural transition for our national sides to contain foreign born stars. Being foreign born doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t care about their adoptive country, in many cases it is quite the opposite with immigrants keen to get as immersed in their new culture as is possible.

Of course in an ideal world our squad would be full of English born players ready to go out and do battle for the cross of St George. The reality now is that the world has changed and our national team must move with it. It is down to the likes of Roy Hodgson to ease the transition, ensuring the likes of a Zaha realise the importance of the decision they have made.

Someone like Wilshere rather than marginalising these foreign born kids should take it upon himself as well to put an arm around their shoulder and teach them about the ethics we have as a national team.

Countries around the world are already taking advantage of the way in which eligibility criteria work and if England step away on moral grounds I think it would be a huge loss for us in purely footballing terms. Now clearly the case of a Januzaj is different to a Wilfried Zaha,the latter has English relatives whereas the former’s eligibility appears purely employment related.

The FA need to draw a line somewhere, but for me suggesting that English players must be born English is plainly ridiculous.

Is Wilshere right here or do we need to start accepting change?

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