LONDON. — England are still assessing the possibility of calling up Manchester United’s Belgium-born winger Adnan Januzaj, manager Roy Hodgson has revealed. Hodgson first expressed an interest in Januzaj last October after he scored two goals in a 2-1 win at Sunderland and the 19-year-old has continued to impress despite United’s on-pitch struggles. Januzaj is of Kosovan descent and also qualifies to play for countries including Belgium, Albania and Turkey, but he is uncapped at youth level and has yet to pledge his allegiance to any particular nation.

He could one day qualify to play for England on residency grounds and an FA spokesman has confirmed that England are liasing with world governing body Fifa over the issue of Januzaj’s eligibility. “All I can say on the subject is that I think it’s a matter for the FA board,” Hodgson told journalists during a briefing at Wembley Stadium.

“I think there’s no question of that, because it does raise a lot of issues within football. It’s quite simple: my answer at the moment is that, until such time as the FA board have got it very, very clear in their mind what their policy’s going to be – is it going to be quite simply following Fifa dictates, is it going to be slightly different in some way? – all I can do is wait and see. — AFP.

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