If Everton - who are desperate for goals - are getting rid of Cannon then, from their perspective, he is behind at least two or three dozen strikers who are eligible for the English team. If he wants to play international football (and potentially go to tournaments) then he'd be an idiot not to declare for Ireland - and even then its unlikely he would be anything like an automatic choice, he'd just have less competition.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
I think he's just English, which to be fair he is, born there raised there in their football culture by ( as I understand it ) parents born there too. The odds are long on an England career but its telling where his heart is that that long shot chance is sufficient to make him step away from us. We know when we pick these lads what the score is at this stage and we shouldn't be crying too much when English people turn out to be English. Mark Sykes took the odds in a different set of circumstances and missed out on our latest squad, he'd be central to NI but he is Irish so he wanted to play for Ireland. Its the same thing broadly.
All that said, we should 100% tell Cannon to pick now, and not hold the door open under the false illusion of dual nationality complexities jargon. We are in a position to do that & it's not being done.
At 20 he is still a kid - and a kid who has been closeted by Everton for the last 10 years. Players who sign at a young age for big clubs in my opinion take a long time to grow up and realise who they are and what they want to do.
We are fortunate that Brexit has stopped the flow of young Irish kids to British clubs and more of them are staying at home and learning their trade in the LOI - it will mean they will be a bit more mature when they head off at 18 and have a better chance of not being chewed up and spat out by the system over there. Its the opposite for players born in England where, as a result of the club academies, they are very much cotton-woolled from the outside world and many of them haven't a clue what they are doing even when they hit 20 or 21. The stats are startling about the number of academy players who, when they get dumped, end up so disillusioned with football that they stop playing all together. My daughter-in-law has a brother who spent time at Leeds as a 16-17 year old - didn't make it - spent a short while playing in the LOI first division and now, at 24, doesn't play anymore. He had the talent (like so many others) but didn't have the maturity and had to give up playing so that he could grow up.
Ah it's more complicated than that I think. I said earlier that he'd likely take a few months to consider it. See how the club form goes the first half of the year and see if he's likely to have something to push for. He doesn't need to announce a change just to keep some internet punters happy.
If he didn't have the Ireland option he'd already be in the England Under 21 squad. They really don't have that many centre forward options at that age group.
But then we should leave him be regardless of whether he announces he wants to play with us or not. He will still have the option to play for England whenever he wants of we don't pick him. What sort of values are you developing in irish football at all levels if tou allow him to behave in this manner?
But sure he was always going to be in the mix for an England 8nderv21 striker position they are nearly as weak as us in Central striking roles in that age group. Holding out for that has only got him a Championship move so what's left to be gained? A few caps for the England 21s won't gey him a premier league move unless he scores goals at leicester
There's plenty of evidence from other examples to show that's not necessarily how it always goes though.
Bookmarks