The great Adnam Januzaj debate

YOUNG Manchester United winger Adnam Januzaj smashed his way into the public conscience with an excellent, two-goal display against Sunderland last weekend.

The 18-year-old is clearly a tremendous prospect but most of the talk all week has regarded whether or not he should be allowed to play for England, with Jack Wilshere and Kevin Pietersen even wading in on Twitter.

Annoyingly, a quick internet search on Monday morning showed me that all of the arguments are irrelevant.

Januzaj was born in Belgium to Kosovar-Albanian parents, meaning he can represent a large number of countries at international level.

However, England is not one of them – and under current regulations he will never be eligible to wear the Three Lions.

FIFA does allow players to represent countries on grounds of residency, but only once they have lived in that country for at least five years, once they reach the age of 18.

Technically, Januzaj could become eligible to play for England on his 23rd birthday, in February 2018. However, even that route is scuppered by a unique agreement made between the home nations that prevents players without links to the country being called up on a residency basis.

Even if a way was found around the rules, it seems Januzaj has his heart set on representing Albania, the country his parents call home, anyway.

It seems the whole thing is something of a mute point – but it certainly filled a lot of column inches and air-time during a week without Premier League or Champions League football.

I agree with Lewis Hamilton – Formula One is getting dull again

FORMULA One driver Lewis Hamilton caused something of a stir by voicing his concern that Sebastian Vettel’s dominance of the sport would turn fans off.

He’s dead right.

I forgot to record the highlights of last weekend’s Korean Grand Prix but once I saw the result – Vettel winning from pole position – I really wasn’t that bothered.

Having created plenty of drama with rapidly degrading tyres and DRS, Formula One officials must be left scratching their heads as Vettel regularly takes two seconds out of his rivals on the opening lap of races and cruises to victory.

The truth is that he and Red Bull are simply miles ahead of everyone else. It’s similar to the period where Michael Schumacher and Ferrari were dominant. Short of somehow handicapping Vettel, there’s not much that can be done.

Let me know what you think about these issues by using the comment box below or tweeting @JBoymanGazette