FORMER England youth international Matt Grimes is reportedly in line to switch international allegiance.
Grimes made 12 appearances for England’s U20s and four more for the U21s in the early stages of his career.
As things stand, players have only been eligible to represent one of the home nations if they or their parents or grandparents were born there.
Alternatively, they can if they’ve had five years of continuous education up to the age of 18 in that country.
However, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) is now lobbying England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to agree to a rule change.
The proposed change would allow players over the age of 18, who have been registered with a club based in one of the home nations for at least five years, to represent that country.
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FAW sources say it would align the home nations to the current Fifa eligibility rules, BBC Sport has revealed.
Grimes left Swansea for Coventry City last month having spent 10 years with the Welsh side.
Under the FAW’s proposed rule change, it would make him eligible to play for Wales.
Had the change been in place already, players such as Leon Britton would also have been eligible to play for Wales.
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Cardiff midfielder Joe Ralls would also be free to play for Craig Bellamy’s side.
But one of the main potential problems for FAW would be the possibility of Wales-qualified youngsters moving to clubs in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland and subsequently wishing to play there.
Grimes spent the early stages of his career with Exeter before joining Swansea in 2015.
He enjoyed loan spells with Blackburn Rovers, Leeds United and Northampton Town during his 10 years at Swansea.
The midfielder has amassed 322 Championship appearances in total.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
