Football
PA Sport 9y

Ex-England U-21 Jones nixes Wales switch: 'I grew up supporting England'

David Jones has never been tempted to forge an international career with Wales despite the efforts of several managers and his own family.

The Burnley midfielder, whose father is Welsh, was first sounded out when he was a teenager at Manchester United but declared his allegiance to England.

He was capped by England Under-21s in 2004 but a senior appearance has never been on the cards and he remains eligible for Wales.

Gary Speed was the last Wales manager to try to persuade Jones to switch, but the carrot of international football has never swayed the 30-year-old,

"It's not about that," he said. "I feel English. I grew up supporting England. That's who I wanted to play for as a kid. It's a personal choice."

Jones admitted family members, including his grandparents, have been left baffled by his decision.

He said: "They haven't tried that hard [to persuade me to change] but you just get that undertone. I've always been strong-minded in that decision so it's never really been a question, to the surprise of a few people."

After leaving United in 2007, Jones has moved on regularly, playing for Derby, Wolves, Wigan and Blackburn before joining Burnley in the summer of 2013.

This season he has been joined in the Clarets' side by a more recent United graduate, Michael Keane.

The defender initially moved to Turf Moor on loan but made the switch permanent earlier this month after making five senior appearances for United.

Jones has been impressed by the 22-year-old and sees no reason he cannot have a big future.

"Man United's such a tough club to break into the first team regularly," said Jones.

"They've got the resources and the pull to be able to get anyone all over the world. Sometimes you're not ready-made at a young age. You definitely sometimes have to leave.

"I think if you look through the leagues, there's a lot of players from Man United who've gone on and made good careers for themselves.

"I believe their coaching and the way they're set up, when I was a youngster it was just brilliant and great experience.

"That's been invaluable to me and Keano seems to be of a similar mentality that the kids that were growing up when I was there still have. Not just as people but on the pitch, there's certain values that I don't feel that other big clubs have, in my opinion.

"He's a really good young player and we're lucky to have him. Hopefully he can keep improving and kick on this season.

"There's no reason to say he won't progress and get back to one of the major teams in the Premier League. He's still only very young for a centre-back, he needs a lot of games.

"He's got ability, that's for sure. It's up to him whether or not he's got the mentality and the consistency and the appetite to keep improving. I think this is a really good club for him at the moment."

^ Back to Top ^