English-born winger Callum Hudson-Odoi has snubbed the chance to represent Ghana at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Bayer Leverkusen winger has reportedly decided to concentrate on his club football with his on-loan German side rather than lay for Ghana at the Mundial.
According to Evening Standard the Chelsea player who has Ghanaian parents is ready to wait for a future England call-up than play for Ghana.
Hudson-Odoi remains eligible to represent Ghana as FIFA rules state that players can still switch international sides if a player has made no more than three appearances for their country, all of those appearances came before the age of 21 and none of them were in a major international tournament.
He had to wait until November 2022 to represent Ghana as he will be handed the clearance by October this year but did not give Ghana the go-ahead to file his documents for a nationality switch— three years after his last appearance for England — but given that would enable him to play in the World Cup in Qatar.
Hudson-Odoi last played for the Three Lions of England in 2019 and has not played for England ever since.
The new rules states: "At the time of being fielded for their last match in an official competition in any kind of football for their current association, they had not turned 21 years old.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the Chelsea player who is presently on loan at Bayer Leverkusen says that he will not be playing for Ghana at the World Cup.
Asked if talks had taken place with Ghana, Hudson-Odoi cracked a smile and said: "Nothing I would say at the moment on camera, I would love to tell you, but I couldn't say.
"At the moment it's more just focusing on the best I can do here. You never know what will happen in the future.
"Obviously the Ghana-England situation has been on my mind for a while. But I think right now it was more of the focus of coming here, really getting myself back into shape, playing a lot of games and just feeling like myself. Right now my mind is just open."
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