Leeds United’s Mateo Joseph had an excellent FIFA international break for Spain’s U-21 squad, scoring a hat-trick in 44 minutes against Kazakhstan. Moreover, he recently spoke about deciding to represent Spain over England.
Joseph is having a good season with the Whites so far. However, the primary concern is the goal-scoring, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem when he represents Spain, as this international window showed.
In an interview with OKDiario, the Leeds standout expressed his thoughts on his performance against Kazakhstan as he attempts to work his way into the first team’s radar for a future call up.
“It was great to help the team in that way, and even more so by winning,” Joseph told the Spanish outlet. “I received many congratulations from the team, from friends and from people I know. And above all, I was very happy because my family was able to see it from the stadium.”
Why did Mateo Joseph choose to represent Spain over England?
Joseph having parents from two different countries put him in a tough position to choose a country to represent when it came to international football. The forward played for England at the U20 but, in the end, made the switch to Spain.
“In the end it’s a question of feeling,” Joseph added. “I don’t think it’s about anything else in the national team. At least in my case. I grew up here. I started watching football with the Spanish national team. Besides, I was in a good moment. And I was lucky enough to celebrate quite a few championships. It’s always been my dream and the truth is that I’m very happy to be able to defend this country.”
The question for Joseph is whether he can translate his excellent form with Spain to Leeds so that he can consistently find the back of the net.
After the departures of key players in the attack this past summer, the Whites are counting on the 20-year-old to take these significant steps in his development and be a key player for them as they look to earn promotion to the Premier League next season.
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