English-born of Ghanaian descent Tariq Lamptey has asked to be left out of the England U21 squad after being approached by Ghana to switch allegiances.
The Brighton star, 21, was due to be in the Young Lions’ selection for their upcoming four Euro qualifiers against Czech Republic, Albania, Kosovo and Slovenia.
But he has decided to sit it out as he mulls over whether to represent the Black Stars instead.
Lamptey, who has two England U21 caps, was born in Hillingdon, west London, but is of Ghanaian descent.
Young Lions boss Lee Carsley revealed: “There’s an issue over his dual nationality. He’s had an approach. It’s something he’s considering at the minute.
“He’s asked to be left out of the squad for a bit of head space. He’s not switched, it’s not cemented or anything like that.
“But he’s had an approach (from Ghana), we have to respect that.
“We’ve made it clear how important we see him to us. I know the seniors have as well.
“It’s not something that we’ve given up on. Tariq is fully aware of how important we see him.”
Carsley says he has had a number of “good conversations” with Lamptey over the situation and believes senior boss Gareth Southgate has also been in contact with the Albion right-back
England have a wealth of options in his position, including the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, James Justin, Kyle Walker-Peters, Tino Livramento and more
In this U21 squad alone, there are promising right-backs in Nottingham Forest loanee Djed Spence, Norwich’s Max Aarons and Ben Johnson of West Ham.
Carsley added: “I’ve definitely got to give him a bit of space now. We’ve got a squad of players there that are desperate to play for England.
“I wouldn’t want to leave one out to bring one in that’s unsure, I don’t think that’s fair.
“But the opposite to that is Tariq is a big player for us and we see a real future for him within the pathway, so I’ll definitely be going back to him.
“He would be a big loss. We do have some really good right-backs but that doesn’t mean we should become blasé about our players.
“We see Tariq as an important player for not potentially only the senior team but the 21s as well.”
Carsley added: “One thing we don’t want to do is force people to play for England.
Lamptey provided two assists in his 30 appearances for Brighton and Hove Albion in the just ended English Premier League season.
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