Leeds United youngster on pathway to becoming Three Lions history-maker after recent debut

The Leeds forward has scored 16 times in 19 appearances for the Under-21 side this season, earning his first international call-up to the England youth setup.

Joseph was born in Santander, in the Spanish region of Cantabria but qualifies as a dual national through his English father. The teenager is a new addition to Ian Foster’s Under-20 group, many of whom were victorious at the Under-19 European Championships last summer. It is a reflection of the impact Joseph has had at Premier League 2 level this season, just over 12 months on from joining Leeds for an undisclosed fee from RCD Espanyol.

Due to the available pool nowadays, England do not tend to call up players born in other countries who also qualify to represent the Three Lions. Admittedly, it is more commonplace at youth level but in the senior setup, no Spanish-born footballer has ever been capped for the England national team.

High profile England men John Barnes, Raheem Sterling, Owen Hargreaves and Tony Dorigo were all full internationals for the Three Lions having been born in Jamaica, Canada and Australia, respectively, however those countries are part of the Commonwealth and therefore dual nationality is altogether more likely.

Calgary-born England defender Fikayo Tomori also falls into that bracket, whilst Marc Guehi and Wilfried Zaha have both represented England despite the Ivory Coast being their birth nation.

So long as 19-year-old Joseph does not make a competitive appearance for England’s senior side in future, he will not be cap-tied and still eligible to represent the country of his birth as a full international.

Joseph speaks English fluently due to his family connections and made his England Under-20 debut as an 88th minute substitute in the 2-0 win over Germany during midweek. He will no doubt hope to emulate distant relative and fellow striker Emile Heskey who represented England on 62 occasions between 1999 and 2010.