Ben Woodburn's snub is not the first: The almost England XI featuring Wilfried Zaha and Simone Perrotta
The teenager made an instant impression on his Wales debut against Serbia on Saturday night, having decided against representing his country of birth
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Your support makes all the difference.Ben Woodburn made a dream international debut for Wales on Saturday night, appearing as a second-half substitute against Austria in Cardiff before winning the game late on with a sumptuous strike from distance.
He became the second-youngest player to score for Wales after Gareth Bale, taking just 261 seconds to open his Wales account.
“It was just a dream come true,” said Woodburn, who has been part of Chris Coleman's senior squads since March but had to wait to win his first cap.
“The manager said to me before I went on to enjoy myself and help the team as best as I could, and hopefully I did that. I do like to do a few shots at the end of training, so thankfully it paid off.”
Woodburn first came to the attention of football fans when he made his Liverpool debut aged just 16, and he became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he netted in the club’s EFL Cup quarter-final win over Leeds United, bettering Michael Owen's record by 98 days.
The forward joined Liverpool at the tender age of 7, having been born in Chester and raised in Tattenhall, Cheshire, less than an hour away from the club.
Owing to his place of birth as well as the nationality of his parents, Woodburn was eligible to play for England and was duly offered an under-16 call-up from the Three Lions in August 2014.
But Woodburn, who is eligible to represent Wales through his maternal grandfather, decided to remain a part of the Welsh set-up having first been invited to play for one of their regional development sides aged 13-and-a-half.
Having been invited down to Dragon Park by the FAW while still 13, he played for a combined Regional Development Boys XI – which combines the north and south Wales squads – and has remained playing for the country ever since.
The FA urged Woodburn to reconsider his decision on more than one occasion, but after his goal-scoring debut Welsh legend Ian Rush revealed that the teenager had only ever wanted to play for Wales.
“I know England were after him for a couple of years but he is so passionate about being Welsh,” he told Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.
“Chris Coleman gave him a chance and he came up trumps.
“I've been working with Ben since he was 14 years old and he has an amazing attitude, he keeps his feet on the ground.
“Playing with with the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale I think he is now realising what the world is all about.
“Jurgen Klopp has been absolutely fantastic with him (telling him) 'not too much too soon', 'be patient and your time will come and then you have to take your chance'.
“He has taken his chance but he has to be patient again because things don't happen overnight and he must realise he probably won't start on Tuesday (against Moldova) but if he comes on he will do a job.”
Woodburn is far from the first star the England national team have missed out on. Click through the gallery above to see a full starting XI of players who decided against representing the Three Lions.
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