Odd timing, seems strange that he'd announce this now as he surely won't have much chance to make the World Cup squad. If he had taken their offer earlier in the season he might have had a better chance.
Adnan Januzaj | 2013/14 Performances
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If going to the WC was so important to him, wouldn't he have said yes when Wilmots asked him earlier this season instead of insisting he's focussing on his club career first and an international career didn't interest him? He possibly could have had a spot in the starting 11 as well by now.
Fair point, but Aprill before the WC does seem a convenient time to decide and get included in the squad, if he isn't included, why not wait till after?
To be honest I doubt its much bother for the Belgian manager to take him to the world cup. I mean Chadli was making the squad...
Good decision
feck yeah! I've got a Belgian passport, so I've been hoping for this news. Hopefully he'll get to tag along to Brazil and get some minutes! Hup Rode Duivels!
There is an attacking spot available now that Benteke is injured. I think every other top attacker they have is already guaranteed to go if fit, so there may now be room for one more.
Ah finally.
A bit strange to be fair, was convinced that he was waiting for England. Albanian FA are extremely corrupted so they weren't a great choice. His dad seemed to agree with that. Kosovo still not a member of UEFA so it would have been a waste of his talent to declare for us. He can switch if he wants if/when Kosovo get accepted anyway.
Footballing wise, the best choice by far. Financially wise, it would have made more sense to wait for England.
A bit strange to be fair, was convinced that he was waiting for England. Albanian FA are extremely corrupted so they weren't a great choice. His dad seemed to agree with that. Kosovo still not a member of UEFA so it would have been a waste of his talent to declare for us. He can switch if he wants if/when Kosovo get accepted anyway.
Footballing wise, the best choice by far. Financially wise, it would have made more sense to wait for England.
Thorgan Hazard and Bakkali aren't really contenders for the WC squad at the moment. Thorgan Hazard has a 1% chance, but that's mainly because of his brother. Bakkali has had an awful 2nd half of the season in which he was 3rd choice for PSV so he has no chance. His cap was just to make sure he didn't choose Morocco.
It will mostly depend on the manager's formation. Despite of the hype around the Belgian national team, they haven't really played any spectacular football during the qualifiers. Part of the reason is that often we played with a 3-man midfield without a #10, consisting of 3 of Defour, Witsel, Fellaini and Dembele (or even Chadli sometimes).
Mertens had a great season with Napoli so he's a certainty. Without any injuries to other players it will be hard for Wilmots to get Januzaj in the squad. Chadli is the weak link in the current group of attacking midfielders but it's difficult to ditch someone who has been in the squad for the whole qualification campaign. Maybe Januzaj could take Mirallas' place if he's regarded as a striker after Benteke's injury.
He was never eligible for England, despite all the rumours. It also would have made absolutely no sense, given that he's not English and neither are his parents. Belgium seems the right choice, he grew up in Belgium and they're a team with great potential. I don't think he'll go to the World Cup but he can be a big player for Belgium in the future
This is the sort of thing that needed a new thread.
I think Giggs will give him a really good run of minutes in the remaining games. Would love to see him feature in Brazil.
agree with most of that but the story on the beeb this morning says that he could have played for England, by living there for 5 years.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27133764
"Signed by United from Anderlecht for a reported fee of £297,000, Januzaj could have played for England from 2018 assuming he remained in the country.
Fifa rules state a player is eligible if "he has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association".
Home nations rule doesn't allow it so unless they scrapped that rule he would never be eligible. Big media sources have claimed the likes of Arteta, Almunia and Schneiderlin are all eligible too when in fact none are. Simply media just spouts a load of bollocks.
Kristof Terreur@HLNinEngeland
Adnan Januzaj will be in Belgium's initial 27-men WC squad,but Wilmots gave him no guarantees for the final 23. Januzaj has impressed Wilmots: "He can play on the wing or even as a 9. Interesting as Christian Benteke will be unavailable. National manager Wilmots on Januzaj: "I want to see him on training and see how he behaves. He has to prove himself on the pitch." (HLN)
Adnan Januzaj will be in Belgium's initial 27-men WC squad,but Wilmots gave him no guarantees for the final 23. Januzaj has impressed Wilmots: "He can play on the wing or even as a 9. Interesting as Christian Benteke will be unavailable. National manager Wilmots on Januzaj: "I want to see him on training and see how he behaves. He has to prove himself on the pitch." (HLN)
Nice that he's giving him the chance. I hope he makes the 23.Kristof Terreur@HLNinEngeland
Adnan Januzaj will be in Belgium's initial 27-men WC squad,but Wilmots gave him no guarantees for the final 23. Januzaj has impressed Wilmots: "He can play on the wing or even as a 9. Interesting as Christian Benteke will be unavailable. National manager Wilmots on Januzaj: "I want to see him on training and see how he behaves. He has to prove himself on the pitch." (HLN)
He will.
Yeah looks like he will probably go as they are a bit light up front with Benteke's injury. The rest of the squad is pretty strong.
Wouldn't be fair on players who have actually contributed to Belgium getting there.
And while he has had a very encouraging first senior season, he is obviously still in a learning stage.
Damn so he may not be getting a rest this summer?
He's had a rest the last 3 months. I'd rather he got WC experience, would be better than a rest for his development imo.
Wow, really? It never made any kind of sense, even if it had actually been within the rules (which it never was, despite the lazy media stuff). Not his nationality, not the nationality of either of his parents, not a country he's spent many years in, not a country he has any reason to feel attached to, and a team who have under-performed and played a lot of poor football over the last four or five years.
Based on what we the public knew, Belgium was always the likely choice. Born there, grew up there, learnt his football there, it's his primary nationality and it's a superb national team to be coming into as a youngster.
The only other plausible outcome was that he might pick Albania/Kosovo based on a sense of family or personal identity which we wouldn't know anything about.
You could argue that he's effectively taking the injured Benteke's place though, rather than someone who also wouldn't have been called up had Benteke been fit.
Yeah, and they have very few players who have contributed to qualifying in the attacking positions. Bakkali has been called up as well.
Agree completely.
Agreed about the rest - we've used him well, a summer of international football will only do him good, I think.
Everyone is talking about players deserving to play over him because of their role in the qualifiers, but in the end, it's not about making players happy, it's about winning. Nothing-players like Chadli should be behind Januzaj in the pecking order no matter what, in my opinion. He's clearly quality & should at least get a couple of minutes here & there.
Everyone is talking about players deserving to play over him because of their role in the qualifiers, but in the end, it's not about making players happy, it's about winning. Nothing-players like Chadli should be behind Januzaj in the pecking order no matter what, in my opinion. He's clearly quality & should at least get a couple of minutes here & there.
To be fair, when I listened that interview on that Kosovan medium, his daddy looked very uninterested on both Albania and Belgium, citing that they hadn't treat them well and some other bullshit. He said that he's open for a Kosovo call when/if it gets accepted on FIFA (Kosovo at the moment can only play friendly matches) and while said that there is no chance to play for other countries with which Januzaj doesn't have any link but have been interested for him (Croatia, Turkey and obviously Serbia - which anyway were never interested for him but was more media trying to generate debate) he refused to say the same for England. I thought that him not deciding for two obvious choices (Belgium and Albania) is him trying to buy time until Adnan will be eligible to play for England and/or Kosovo gets accepted on FIFA.
Footballing wise he has made the best decision by far IMO. Playing for England for his marketing image would have been great but when England would get beaten on an EURO/World Cup he would have become the media scapegoat. Also, I am not sure that he would have been accepted well from English players - and rightly so, there is no reason why a foreigner should play for an another country.
The next 'official' game is in Brazil, and I think Belgium would want to play him in one as soon as possible to put all this nonsense to bed once and for all. Now that Big Ben is out, there is a good chance for him.
A good performance in the warm up games and he's in.
A good performance in the warm up games and he's in.
Januzaj has to start for the sunderland game surely. Since he is likely to make the Belgium squad for the world cup he needs good run out, plus i just like watching this kid play. Reminds me of Ronaldo as once he's on the ball you'll be out of your seat because you know he'll do something with it.
Mirallas comes across ridiculously twattish here.
Sounds like hes worried that Januzaj will nick his position 
pressure's on KEVIN
pressure's on KEVINHe probably sees Januzaj as a threat to his place in the starting XI.
Edit: Adam-Utd beat me to it!
What an unprofessional arsehole
Clearly, but even so you rarely get people coming out expressing that they don't think somebody should be picked! Poor from him and I'm glad he's been publicly pulled up on it.
Very poor from Mirallas. Even if he might be right, he is not the manager, absolutely uncalled for to claim for him who should be in th Belgium squad and who not.
Kind of glad Januzaj will have Fellaini there to help him bed in a bit.
Mirallas - what a prat For that, he's about to be removed from my fantasy team.
For that, he's about to be removed from my fantasy team.Exactly. Ironically the fact he said this might actually work in Januzaj's favour as I'm sure Mirallas has probably gone down in Wilmots estimation because of these comments.
Would be hilarious if Januzaj ends up disposing him in the Belgium final 11 in the WC.
Good to see Januzaj stiring things up, he could become some player for us and Belgium.. If I was Mirallas I would be pissing my pants right now..
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