Manchester United defender reveals that he wanted to play for England before Januzaj controversy

The Brazilian defender wanted to play for England

Manchester United’s Brazilian defender Rafael Da Silva recently revealed his desire to play for the Three Lions. The right-back who was born in Brazil and has played for them only twice in friendlies before he represented them in the U-23 team at the London Olympics in 2012.

The full-back was eligible to play for England if he was approved by the FIA but Rafael then abandoned the thought of playing for the Three Lions. As per reports in Mirror, Rafael was thought to be giving serious consideration to announcing himself as eligible for England, until the debate surrounding team-mate Adnan Januzaj and his availability for the Three Lions caused much debate.

Adnan Januzaj was born to Albanian and Kosovo parents in Belgium sparked a controversy for a suggestion that he could be capped for England. Arsenal‘s Jack Wilshere was also involved in a Twitter row along with South African-born England batsman Kevin Pietersen on Adnan Januzaj’s capping for England.

Rafael is down the pecking order for the Selecao whose first choice right back currently is Barcelona’s Dani Alves for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2014. The Manchester United full back also has a Portugese citizenship and had said about a possible switch to the Iberian nation but now decided to concentrate to fight for his place in Luis Felipe Scolari’s Brazil squad.

Rafael has had a pretty good season so far with Manchester United and also been the first choice right-back for the Red Devils.