Player Nationality Quotes

It feels a little bit odd to me that you have some guys that have never lived in the United States that play for the United States because they were able to secure a passport. To me, that just feels like they weren't able to make it for their country and earn a living, so they're coming here.

That is the issue with signing young players from other big European football nations - at some point, they will want to go home.

The way the Premier League is now we have a lot of foreign players. A lot of very good foreign players.

I get very emotional when British players are playing.

English players are as easy to coach. The problem is that the Premier League has the best players in the world, and statistically not all of them can be born in England. But we don't have enough English players: we are working very hard on it.

It can be difficult for players who are perceived to have turned their backs on England, as Wilfried Zaha has found out after deciding to play for Ivory Coast.

I'm a baseball fan. I always pulled for where the Dominican players play.

It's strange that we don't see more English players going to the Spanish league.

I feel German, that's for sure. I grew up in Germany, I went to school in Germany and most of my friends are there. I play for Germany.

The European Commission says that people who are working the country can play in the national team. Perhaps Didier Drogba can play for England after five years. We have to protect against that.

If I went to Spain and lived there for five years, I'm not going to play for Spain. For me an English player should play for England, really.

Aw, how could he Jorge Orta lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico.

I struggle to understand why many in football get so upset about dual nationality.

I may be French, but I'm playing for Arsenal.

It's up to the national associations and their leagues to limit the entry of foreign players.

It would be great to have more Spanish players at Manchester United.

My identity is that of a Pakistani player. And nothing is more important than that for me.

Only 38 per cent of players in the Premier League are English; that is a damning statistic. Soon, the England manager will have to go scouting for players in the Championship - and when I say 'soon' I mean the next four or five years, perhaps even for the next World Cup.

It's important that top clubs don't lose sight of the fact that it's the English Premier League and English players should be involved.

I have always said that it is fundamental to have a strong core of Italian players in a club squad. At AC Milan, we had that and we won. The same at Juventus.