The players who snubbed their country of birth

Players aren’t always good enough to choose, others are tied down to one – but some players careers could have been far different had they made the choice to play for a different country. Whilst natives from one place may loathe the rejection of one of their home natives, another country can benefit massively in the big tournaments.

Some of football’s best players have had a big decision to make, it’s fair to say that in some cases – it’s a pretty straight forward one.

French fans will have to simply sit back and imagine the dissolved possibility of Gonzalo Higuain partnering Antoine Griezmann. With Karim Benzema focusing on blackmailing women, France were left with Olivier Giroud and Andre Pierre Gignac. To be fair, Giroud didn’t do too badly, but Gignac got way too much playing time. That final would have been very different with Higuain playing for Les Bleus.