Chelsea starlet Islam Feruz turns his back on playing for Scotland... after SFA chief changed the rules so that he could



Feruz had played at almost every youth level for Scotland

SFA Chief Gordon Smith changed rules so youngster could play for them

Arrived in Glasgow with his family as refugees aged just 10

Starred for Chelsea in Under-21 Premier League final win over Man Utd



Somalian teenager Islam Feruz sensationally has turned his back on Scotland – earning a sharp rebuke from the man whose rule change fast-tracked the former Celtic striker into the international game.



Chelsea kid Feruz has been tipped for the top and, having featured for Scotland at Under-17 and Under-21 level, was to be a key player in the UEFA Under-19 elite round qualifiers starting in England tomorrow.



But the 18-year-old, who hasn’t featured for his adopted nation since a 6-0 hammering by England Under-21s in Sheffield last August, withdrew with a mystery injury – despite starring in last week’s Under-21 Premier League Final win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.



Snub: Chelsea teenager Islam Feruz has turned his back on playing for Scotland

Hope: Many behind the scenes believed that he could take Scottish football by storm

The SFA have repeatedly pleaded with Feruz, whose family arrived in Glasgow via Yemen as refugees when he was just 10, to turn up to squad after squad – but he has made it clear that he’s not interested.



His decision to quit Scotland will come as no surprise to anyone at Celtic, with Feruz’s departure to Chelsea in 2011 still a source of some rancour – especially as the late Tommy Burns had spoken on behalf of the Feruz family when they were threatened with deportation.



And the man whose foresight allowed Feruz into the Scottish international set-up believes the forward has been guilty of an equally poor attitude by ditching his adopted nation.



As SFA chief executive, Gordon Smith pushed through a change allowing youngsters who had gone through a country’s education system to represent their adopted nation.



Smith told Sportsmail that he was saddened – but not surprised – to learn of Feruz’s decision, saying: ‘He is a real talent, of that there is no doubt. There’s a reason he was capped at age groups several steps beyond his actual years – he is a great talent.

‘But I felt his attitude was wrong when he left Celtic, to be honest. Celtic did a lot for him, helped his family, helped him enormously.



‘I felt it was a slap in the face, leaving Celtic the way he did and throwing in his lot with Chelsea. I was personally disappointed with that, because I thought he should have shown more loyalty.



‘With that in mind, I’m not really surprised that he’s done the same thing to Scotland – although I find it hard to understand why he’s done it.

Dejected: SFA Chief Gordon Smith changed the rules to allow Feruz to play for Scotland in the first place

Composed: Feruz had been likened in some quarters to Brazil legend Romario

SCOTTISH PROSPECT

Under-16: 3 caps; 1 goal



Under-17: 18 caps; 7 goals



Under-19: 5 caps; 3 goals



Under-20: 1 cap; 0 goals



Under-21: 4 caps; 2 goals

‘Just like Celtic did a lot for him, Scotland did a great deal for him and his family. On a football level, we gave him an opportunity to express himself in international football, getting great experience and benefiting his career prospects enormously.



'You can’t tell me it didn’t help him. On top of that, his family came to Scotland as refugees and were treated well.



‘If he doesn’t want to play for Scotland, well, you just have to accept it. The one thing you need at international level is motivation on the part of the individual.



‘People have to be fired up and want to play for their country, to feel pride in the jersey – to feel like they belong to the country and have a stake in its success.



‘If you’ve got someone - like Islam Feruz – who doesn’t want to play for Scotland, the only option is to reject him immediately. If he cannot commit to playing for this country, we shouldn’t have anything to do with him.



‘I don’t know what he is thinking now because, under the rules, he cannot play for any other Home Nation, so it’s not as if he can play for England.’



Smith said that Feruz was never the driving force for the rule change, insisting: ‘His name was put forward when the rules were being changed – him and Andy Driver at Hearts.



‘But the rules weren’t changed for the benefit of any particular player, people just mentioned both of these guys as potential early beneficiaries of any change.



‘I had nobody in mind at all. We just took the decision, the four Home Nations, that we would not comply with the rules making it easy to change nationalities just like that.



‘Were collectively keen to stick to the restrictions on eligibility – parents, grandparents or being born in the country.



‘But I felt that it would be only fair to a kid whose family had settled here that they should be allowed to play for Scotland. If they had gone through the education system because they’d emigrated here, and if they held a British passport, I thought we should be free to consider them.



‘So I put the new rule together and put it before the three other Home Nations, who agreed, then we got it past FIFA.’



Mover: The teenager moved from Celtic to Chelsea in 2012

Bright spark: And starred during Chelsea's Under-21 Premier League win over Man Utd

Capped for the Under-17s at the age of 14 and Scotland’s youngest ever Under-21 cap while just 16, Feruz was likened to a young Romario by SFA performance director Mark Wotte.



Instead of turning out for Ricky Sbragia’s young squad in qualifiers against England, Ukraine and Montenegro, he will be in Hong Kong to represent Chelsea at HKFC Citibank Soccer Sevens.



SFA chiefs insist the door is still open for Feruz if he changes his mind and Sbragia is refusing to rule out a return for him - or Southampton’s English Under-19 stars Matt Targett and Sam Gallagher, who were previously approached to play for Scotland.



He said: ‘The doors are never closed. I can understand Matt Targett and Sam Gallacher because they are English-born players.

