Fabio Capello's courtship of Everton's Spanish midfielder, Mikael Arteta, for the England national team proved to be a wild goose chase.

Capello recently spoke with Arteta about playing for England, but a check of the FIFA rules revealed that the midfielder is ineligible to play for England.

FIFA rule 18.1.a states that a player who represents one country at the youth level must have been eligible for citizenship of the country to which he wants to switch at the time he played for the first country. The rule basically rules out players switching national teams under the new FIFA rules if their basis for citizenship is residency (or marriage). Arteta hoped to take out British citizenship, having lived in England for five years.