Manchester fans in the Transfer Tavern have been discussing the position of Adnan Januzaj who has had a season to forget after his yearlong loan with Borussia Dortmund was cut short in January after failing to impress manager Thomas Tuchel.
Since returning to Manchester, the 21-year-old has been a consistent benchwarmer for Louis Van Gaal’s side and has recently decided to shift his national status to Kosovo despite making six full appearances for Belgium.
Kosovo are set to have their UEFA membership approved next month after starting the process when they were formed in 2008. Januzaj’s Kosovon/Albanian family moved to Belgium in the early 90’s and will be allowed to switch his loyalties once the membership has been finalised.
This is not a situation as uncommon as some may think; with this in mind, the lads over by the Jukebox have identified five players big name players who switched their national allegiances like young Januzaj…
Hit Januzaj below to see FIVE players who also switched national allegiances!
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Diego Costa
Costa made two caps for the Brazilian national side before sealing a Spanish passport in 2013.
Brazilian manager, Felipe Scolari, fumed at the decision with their striker crisis well documented as Costa made his decision ahead of the World Cup. Scolari described the choice as: “turning his back on a nation”.
Lukas Podolski
In 2003 after several impressive performances in the Bundesliga, the Polish media suggested to the then Polish national team coach, Pawel Janas, to call Podolski up to the team as he had only represented Germany at the youth levels then.
Within a year, Podolski’s true potential came out and the German media were keen on getting the player to represent the country and on June 6, 2004, at the age of 19, he played for Germany.
Poldolski has scored 48 goals in 127 senior appearances and has a World Cup winners medal to add to his impressive career in a German shirt.
Pepe
Even before Pepe opted to play for Portugal, he was never called up to represent Brazil in any youth category. However according to his father, Pepe was contacted by coach Dunga in 2006 about a future call-up, which the player declined as he had already made up his mind up about joining Portugal’s senior side once he became eligible.
Pepe has made 70 appearances for the national side but has only one World Cup cap in which he received a straight red against Germany in the opening group game of the 2014 tournament.
Thiago Motta
Motta is the third player on the list who, despite their Brazilian roots, opted to play football elsewhere.
In 2011 Motta was called up to international duty side after stressing his interest in playing for Italy due to his grandfather’s nationality.
Motta has played 25 times for Italy including the 2-1 victory over England in the 2014 World Cup.
Kevin Prince-Boateng
Half brother of Bayern Munich superstar Jerome Boateng, Kevin was brought up in Germany and made his success through the Hertha academy.
He decided to make the switch to Ghana but a year later announced his retirement from international football after complaining fatigue due to travelling.
He then decided to rejoin the national team ahead of the 2014 World Cup only to be suspended from the tournament for discipline troubles.
