New Liverpool Boss Fowler Offers View On Januzaj Situation
The recently appointed Liverpool manager, Robbie Fowler, has been speaking to the Daily Express about his opinion on young Belgian born "starlet", Adnan Januzaj, and the recent speculation on his international future. The Manchester United midfielder, 18, moved to England two years ago, after impressing Manchester United scouts. He has recently been under a lot of media speculation after it was revealed that, if he was not capped by Belgium by 2018, he would therefore be eligible to play for England, due to residing in the UK for a certain period of time. This has been greeted with great hope from many England fans, but also with skepticism by others, including twenty-one year old England midfielder Jack Wilshere, who said that he would not like to see the Belgian play for England. He told press that "The only people who should play for England are English people. We have to remember what we are. We are English. We tackle hard, are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat. 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 am not going to play for Spain." The Arsenal man has some very strong opinions there, but what does the new Liverpool manager think of the situation?
We asked Robbie Fowler whether he believed Januzaj, who is also eligible to play for Albania and Kosovo, should have the right to play for England. In response to the question, Fowler replied "It's a tricky one. You don't want to have all of your national team players having a foreign upbringing, but I think that there is an exception for a few. To be honest I think that he should have the right to play for England, but I am just not totally sure whether he will ever be ready to. With the likes of Jack (Wilshere) in the squad, a bright, talented lad, I think it will be really difficult for Januzaj to get in. The fans like to see a home grown player doing well for his country but I am sure that if Januzaj does turn out as well as people are expecting him to, then there will be no complaints. We'll just have to see."
This will not be decided in the short term, unless he plays for Belgium, something he was reluctant to do, but I am sure this will not be the last we hear of this.