Warning to England over future of Zidane

UNITED’S teenage prospect Zidane Iqbal is a target for the Iraq national side, with England set to lose out on his services.

Iqbal’s first football coach Stewart Hamer warned M.E.N. Sport in September that England needed to be more ‘proactive’ in securing the attacking midfielder’s talents.

The 18-year-old spent the last international break with the Iraq Under-23 side where he impressed in a 1-0 defeat to Saudi Arabia.

His impressive displays for Neil Wood’s United youth side this season has yet to earn him a call-up to any England national age group.

Iqbal is eligible to represent England having been born in Manchester, Iraq through his mum and Pakistan through his dad.

“I’d certainly love him [Iqbal] to play for England and I think his father would love him to play for England,” Hamer said at the start of the season.

“At the moment, I think he’s being torn whether to play for Iraq’s national team or Pakistan’s national team. Even though his father is Pakistani, I think his father would like him to progress down the England route and it would be nice if that happened.

“I do think that the English side of it should be a little bit more proactive in trying to get him in because if they don’t, they could lose someone here. I would like to see England make more of an effort to tie him down otherwise they might lose him.”

Zidane recently wowed United fans with a terrific display in the Under-19s’ 4-2 victory over Atalanta in the UEFA Youth League, capping the performance with a goal.

It capped off a week where he found the back of the net against Sunderland in the Papa John’s Trophy.