Everton attacker Demarai Gray makes change of allegiance to Jamaica
Everton’s Demarai Gray is set to represent Jamaica after his international switch was confirmed by The Athletic.
Having come through the England underage setup, he received a call-up by Gareth Southgate for a friendly against Switzerland in February 2018 but did not feature in the 1-0 win.
Now, Gray has decided to commit to the Reggae Boyz and the experience of full international football with the Caribbean nation, to complete the u-turn after previously representing the Three Lions.
The report on the former Leicester City player means he is set for competitive action in the coming weeks.
“Demarai Gray has switched international allegiance from England to Jamaica,” it said.
“The Everton forward, 26, who has played through the age groups for England, has been named in Jamaica’s squad for the upcoming Gold Cup.”
Status
In the tournament that will be staged across the USA and Canada, Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side will take on the Americans, Trinidad and Tobago as well as one other opponent still to be confirmed, in Group A.
As outlined in a previous article by The Athletic , players are able to switch their international status as long as they have played no more than three senior games and those appearances must have taken place before the age of 21.
A period of three years must also have lapsed between a player’s last match for the country they wish to switch from, to their new allegiance as long as none of those three games took place at a World Cup, or the equivalent at confederation level (European Championship, Copa America, etc,).
Ahead of pre-season, it is hardly ideal from an Everton perspective to have Gray travelling across the world to play games but there is nothing they can do about it, whilst the player is said to be attracting interest from Fulham [Sky Sports].