Matty Cash was being considered for an England call-up last season as reward for his fine form at Aston Villa, but the 24-year-old ended up representing Poland. Cash was name-checked by Gareth Southgate 12 months ago but never managed to get the nod for the Three Lions, resulting in Cash using his Polish grandfather to play for Biało-czerwoni.
He’s gone on to make two caps for the national team, playing for 26 minutes in Poland’s World Cup qualifier win over Andorra (4-1) and played for 45 minutes in their World Cup qualifier defeat to Hungary (1-2). Southgate lamented losing Cash to Poland, but Luke Young says he never stood a chance of representing England due to the competition.
He told Birmingham Live: “He’s very unlucky that England are so strong in the full-back position. At another time he would certainly have earned caps. I know he has changed allegiance to Poland but I still feel he would have gained some England recognition. The problem being is the age of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James – caps would be hard to come by.”
Not only did Cash have Alexander-Arnold and James to worry about, Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Leicester City’s James Justin, Leeds United’s Luke Ayling, Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters, Norwich City’s Max Aarons and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Tariq Lamptey are also options.
Cash would have been an effective player for England, but he probably made the right decision picking Poland for the sake of his international career.
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