PATRICK BAMFORD HAS made his international intentions clear, saying an England call-up would be a “dream” after his glittering start to the Premier League season.
That said, the Leeds United star stresses he has a long way to go before fulfilling that ambition.
These comments effectively rule out Bamford representing Ireland at senior level and come a little over a year since he said, “I have not said yes, I have not said no” while discussing his Irish allegiance after contact from then-manager Mick McCarthy.
The English-born striker qualifies to play for the Boys In Green through the grandparent rule, and did so with the U18s, before representing his country of birth up to U21 level.
And it appears that he wants to continue on that trajectory, despite excitement once again from Ireland fans after his stunning hat-trick against Aston Villa last week, which brought his goalscoring tally to six in as many games this season.
His eye-catching recent form and becoming the first Leeds player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Mark Viduka 17 years ago has also led to calls for Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate to consider Bamford for a first senior call-up, something the 27-year-old would relish.
“That would be a dream,” he told talkSPORT yesterday.
“The important thing for me is that I’ve played six games and done quite well in those games, but it’s unfair for me to compare myself to the other England strikers who have been doing it for a long time at this level.
“They are more worthy at the minute.
“I think by the end of the season if I’m still doing it and I’m up there in the top scorers charts then we can talk about whether or not I deserve a place in the England squad.”
Bamford, who was previously on the books at Chelsea, came to Elland Road from Middlesbrough in July 2018.
This season marks his fifth stint in the Premier League having also endured difficult loan spells at Crystal Palace Norwich and Burnley. After numerous setbacks and injury struggles, Bamford also paid tribute to Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa for his backing.
“Since he’s come in he’s put his faith in me from the beginning. There was tough times last season when he stuck by me because as long as I was working for the team, even if I wasn’t scoring, he still had this belief in me.
“There’s a big thing there where I feel like I need to repay him and I’ve a good start with six goals and that goes some way to repaying him.”
- The42′s weekly columnist David Meyler shared some thoughts on Bamford’s situation in his piece this week.
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Why oh why is this a story. He was never declaring for us.
@Kevin: it’s a story because he’s still eligible and one of the form players in the premier league.He’s not going to play for us but of course it’s going to be a discussion point in Irish football,people like to think We’r just going to forget Rice and Grealish yet they still spark discussion whenever they enter Irish media,there’s certainly never a dead silence about the fact we could of had them and that we don’t like to admit they’re actually good players and Bamfords form will probably see the same discussion now that he’s pretty much not going to play for us.
He’s not getting near Kane, Sterling or Rashford. His missed opportunity.
@Pat Mangan: yeah but on form he’s probably in the squad which would probably be enough for him,Sterling and Rashford play wide for England anyway.
@Nic Antonio: Ings and Calvert Lewin also ahead of him. Don’t see him getting in barring injuries.
@Shimmy Shammy: Exactly, he’ll declare and play or sub in maybe 1 or 2 games, then fall by the wayside as other major players get the call-ups and he’ll be forgotten Internationally forever. It’s a tried and tested road for other players who could have played for ROI, the lure of the England cal is too much, but it often ends up in failure.
@Shimmy Shammy: Not too long ago wouldn’t of imagined Ings getting on an England squad but he went on brilliant form and got called up…if Bamford stays on form he probably would to
@Kieran Fogarty: Ings was a regular England underage international and was always looking towards heading to be an England regular but did his ACL at Liverpool which disrupted his career. A lot different to Bamford.
@Pat Mangan: Won,t get near Kane, would,nt worry too much about Sterling and Rashford though….
Not a lot of Ireland fans getting excited. His non commital a year ago, much like Nathan Redmond’s was the end of it for many people. They want to represent England more. Fair enough.
Chances of him declaring for Ireland were effectively ended a long time ago when he said he wanted to play for England
Scored a few goals, hot topic again. Never declaring for ireland and never was. Never getting run of games for England either. How many players have had a burst of goals and then found their level again. Odd r he’ll fizzle out. How this is even worthy of a story. HES NOT IRISH HES ENGLISH. end of story.
@Martin Glynn: When Declan Rice declared for England most comments on here were saying how he’d only get a few caps but he’s been involved with the team ever since
@Martin Glynn: well said
@Kieran Fogarty: they have a shortage of defensive midfield players and thats why he’s there. I honestly don’t think he’s had a gud game for England yet. It’s not like England don’t hype up their players ???? On the other hand they have an abundant of forwards and bamford is well well behind any of those. Kane, rashford, ings, greenwood, Sterling, sancho, Abraham, Calvert-Lewin all ahead of him. So if all of them get covid he’s a chance ……….
Old news, has scored few goals now it’s brought back up again hope Southgate caps him soon(for hes one and only cap) and then the nonsense will stop.
In Ireland we are back to the days when our teams were mostly from lower league and a few league of Ireland players thrown in . We need to get our own game in order and hopefully aspire to at least challenge a player from these leagues , and take it from there .
@Tricksy: Are you sure? I’d have thought most of our players came from premiership teams with a few championship players and one league of Ireland player.
@Tricksy: the last Irish first 11, 10 came from epl clubs I thought? So wouldn’t agree with your assessment there.. Only loi player included in the squad was jack bryne also??
@Tricksy: seems we are back to the days when people don’t actually watch ireland matches but make comments that sound good but have no basis in fact all the same…..
Would rack up a lot of caps for Ireland but will only get a handful at best for England.
I’m glad he came out and said this, he never wanted to play for us so now we can move on and focus on players who want to wear the green jersey.
Kane was eligible for Ireland, Galway parents i think? But whoever was Irish manager at the time, did,nt pursue him, he might have been with Orient at the time, now thats one who got away…
This strategy has been in effect ended with the appointment of Stephen Kenny and thank God. There is little merit or validity to it. The focus now must be on cultivating home gown talent in the same way we have done with rugby. Focus on our league and the players in our system to cultivate a strong Irish soccer product. Should players of Irish lineage appear and want to represent us, then great. Bamford feels English and that should be the end of it.
He’s a decent Championship striker at best but fair play to him for getting over the Trevor Brennan thing.
He would be a great addition for us if he were to declare
@Daragh Hackett: he won’t never was going to. And to be fair I don’t think he is any better than what we have or what is coming through.
To be fair to Bamford at least he hasn’t strung us along, has never expressed desires to declare for Ireland