The Bayer Leverkusen winger refused to make his highly-anticipated debut for the Reggae Boyz on Sunday <\/p>\n
Leon Bailey’s\u00a0long-awaited debut for Jamaica has been put on hold after the winger refused to play on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old had appeared to end speculation about his international future by accepting a call-up to Jamaica’s squad for their clash with Bonaire.<\/p>\n
But Bailey pulled out of that game after the Jamaican Football Federation\u00a0reportedly went back on an agreement to call up his younger brother, Kyle Butler, instead making him go through a trial first.<\/p>\n
Article continues below<\/span> <\/p>\n Juve on alert: Exiled Icardi may have already played his final game for Inter Sarri vindicated for dropping Kepa as Chelsea & Pedro impress in Spurs win Magnificent Mane takes centre stage as league leaders Liverpool put on a five-star show Lukaku sends reminder that his Man Utd career is far from over <\/p>\n Butler, 20, plays for Austrian outfit FC Juniors OO and talked up his chances of a call-up to the national side at the end of last year.<\/p>\n Highly rated Leverkusen winger Bailey had been at the centre of a fight for his services at international level because of his eligibility to play for Jamaica, Germany, Belgium and England.<\/p>\n Jamaica thought they had come out on top in that battle when Bailey accepted a call-up to their latest squad this month, but in an unexpected turn of events, the winger says he will only play for the Reggae Boyz if his brother is given a chance.<\/p>\n “Obviously, I came to Jamaica because of the international call-up,” Bailey\u00a0told the Jamaica Gleaner<\/em>.<\/p>\n “I did agree to come based on the agreement we had. But when I got here, it was a totally different scenario. They didn’t keep their end [of the deal], therefore, I decided not to play this game.<\/p>\n “I am here for one reason: to represent the country. But they didn’t keep their end. Once they are willing to do that, I am ready to put on the national team jersey.<\/p>\n “By this November, if they are willing to go ahead with whatever we’ve asked of them, I’ll be ready to represent my country.\u201d<\/p>\n The winger, who has been linked with a number of top clubs throughout Europe, believes he needs like-minded players alongside him if he is to perform at his top level for Jamaica.<\/p>\n “It [his brother’s situation] is a big part of it. I need players who can understand me. You can’t expect me to jump in a system and expect it to work.<\/p>\n “I need help. I am a winner, a phoenix, and I don’t like losing, so I need people who I know are capable of making things happen.”<\/p>\n If the situation is resolved, Bailey could make his Reggae Boyz debut against Suriname on November 17.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bayer Leverkusen winger refused to make his highly-anticipated debut for the Reggae Boyz on Sunday Leon Bailey’s\u00a0long-awaited debut for Jamaica has been put on hold after the winger refused to play on Sunday. The 21-year-old had appeared to end speculation about his international future by accepting a call-up to Jamaica’s squad for their clash…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Editors' Picks<\/h3>\n