The FAW seem to have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to Jordan James, the seventeen year old Birmingham City player who has really put his stamp on the championship this season. Born in Hereford but representing Wales at three levels to under 18 James has been selected for England this week. His father, Welshman Tony James also an ex professional will see this as just reward for years of dedication.
The James family have dedicated themselves to getting Jordan to training and games and now despite paying at three levels for Wales it’s England who have stepped in at under 20 level to persuade him to switch allegiances. His father acknowledges his sons efforts. "Since Covid he has improved so much in such a short space of time you could see his confidence growing. He started to develop physically. Once he started being able to use his physicality a little bit more he suddenly changed. Once they got back in training playing matches he changed overnight. He is not an outwardly expressive person, he is not going to turn round to you and say ‘I am this, or that’. But he is very inwardly driven, he has got a proper drive in him to be as good as he can be. He understands football, he has lived at football and training grounds since nine-ten-years old. It seems stupid to say but it feels like he was born to play. He is not a football nerd who would sit down and watch loads on the telly but he loves playing it”
Blues boss Lee Bowyer agrees in the potential he see’s in Jordan. "Football is crazy, you can’t predict it,” Bowyer said. "He has been around us, trained with us and done really well. When you see that from a 17-year-old kid, the stuff he is doing, you keep him around.I think he has got good potential and I think I can improve him a lot, so from now on he will be training with us — whether he’s in the squads or not. Even if everyone is fit he will be around us now.”
At seventeen that’s a huge compliment from his manager. And now, having played his age group football for Wales, he has been called into Andy Edwards’group and will face Poland in Bielsko-Biala on Friday, March 25th and Germany at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium on Tuesday, March 29th. Why Wales have not ensured such a huge talent is at least looked after and communicated with over his Wales international future is difficult to understand. They will have their reasons.
England Under 20 coach Edwards referenced his new pathway for England players this week. "We’re looking at players who are in the pathway, and players who can come in. Historically, it has proved a very good age group for development. These players are all at different stages of their career but a lot of them are playing first team football now, whether that’s in the Championship, League One or on the periphery of clubs in the Premier League. These games are a chance for these players to show how far they’ve come and how far they can go.”
So the Birmingham City star who at only seventeen has commanded the blues midfield this season with rave reviews, and a goal has a unique swashbuckling style about him. At such a young age to display this much maturity and to hold down down a place in a championship side tells us the FAW have taken their eye off the ball again. And we don’t mean it’s because Jordan wants to play for England, it could well be, but was there ever any effort to keep him ?
It will be interesting how they handle this as Jordan’s father is Welsh and has encouraged him to wear the red shirt through hours of dedication to his sons future. It’s not over yet but it’s close, and a great loss to Wales now and in the future.