Coming off the back of a 7-0 win over North Macedonia, you’d think that anyone connected in some small way with England would be delighted at the way in which Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions have signed off the 2022/23 season.
However, there will be some players that are unlikely to raise an eyebrow at the news, simply because they’ve been denied access to making it into the senior team.
It wasn’t that long ago that Folarin Balogun decided to swap England for the United States Men’s National Team, and with a trophy on his second appearance, he’ll probably feel that his switch was justified.
The latest to decide that he can’t wait around for Southgate to come calling is Everton star, Demarai Gray.
Exciting in possession as he is, the player, who has turned out for England’s U21 side in the past, has never really come close to making inroads into the senior side.
Effectively, his pathway has been blocked, though it’s not really been intentional from Southgate, more because he has an embarrassment of riches at the moment and needs to pick his team. It just so happens that Gray doesn’t feature.
That has seen Gray decide to switch his allegiance to Jamaica according to The Athletic (subscription required).
As the article states, West Ham’s Michail Antonio and Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey already form part of an exciting attack, and Gray will complement that.
England’s pain is evidently Jamaica’s gain.
My view is if they don’t want to put the effort in to prove they are good enough for the team they obviously aren’t the players we want.
He was never going to get anywhere near the England team anyway, simply not good enough. He’s not even a guaranteed starter for his club side and they’re poor
If he doesn’t want to put the effort in to meet the standards to play in the National team then I’d rather he didn’t play in the English league at all cos that’s where you learn how to play professional football in England