Roy Hodgson's stockpiling of young multi-national talent seems to be a tactic to increase England's selection pool, while also draining that of other countries around the world.
Some of these players aren't ready for the international setup, but a late introduction in a competitive match is all it takes for England to own the rest of a player's future on the world stage.
With just a few minutes of a meaningless 2-0 win against Estonia under his belt, 19-year-old Dele Alli may never be selected for England again. A short foray off the bench would bar him from representing Nigeria through his parentage if things don't work out with the Three Lions.
Five months ago, the Buckinghamshire native was playing League One football with Milton Keynes Dons. Injuries to Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, and Moussa Dembele gifted Alli an early route to Premier League action, and three starts in holding midfield alongside Eric Dier were enough to encourage Hodgson to call him up. Not bad for someone who's playing out of position and more suited to a box-to-box role similar to the one his hero, Steven Gerrard, held for so long at Liverpool.
But for all the hard running that has adhered him to the Tottenham Hotspur support, is three starts really enough to earn a spot in the England squad? No it's not, but it's a clever yet immoral way to lock him down to England for the rest of his career.
Last month the national team boss stopped just short of performing somersaults in order to woo Jack Grealish and encourage him to turn his back on the Republic of Ireland, for whom he represented at the Under-17, U-18, and U-21 levels.
The midfielder has been playing catch-up so far this term as he missed Aston Villa's preseason with hamstring problems. His form is far from the sporadic bursts of talent we saw last season. It's certainly not the kind of situation that merits an England call-up.
He opted for his country of birth rather than that of his grandfather's, and even if he never reaches the potential of an England regular, at least Ireland can't use him.
He's expected to be cleared to join the Three Lions' camp for next month's friendlies against Spain and France.
Related: Roy Hodgson gives 1st senior England call-ups to Dele Alli, Danny Ings
The same goes for the early caps earned by Raheem Sterling (tempted by efforts by Jamaica, his birth country, to make him part of the "Reggae Boyz" at 17) and Danny Welbeck (turned down Ghana to make England bow at 20).
A failure to tie down Victor Moses, who became frustrated by the lack of opportunities in the senior setup so he instead opted to represent his birthplace Nigeria, rankled with the English media since, up until then, he had represented the Three Lions since U-16 level.
However, England isn't the only party guilty of warehousing players.
Belgium, ranked third in the FIFA world rankings, is stacked with multi-national talent, but the international beginnings of Nacer Chadli are alarming. He made a Man-of-the-Match performance for the Moroccan national team in 2010, but less than three months later made his debut for Belgium.
Given that the 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland was a friendly and not a competitive tie, Belgium was free to pounce.
It was quite the turnaround, and one that occurred after "a positive discussion" with then-coach George Leekens, the player wrote on his website, according to the BBC.
There are also questions over Germany's selection of Lukas Podolski shortly after the Polish media talked him up as a future regular for the national side.
It seems unlikely given Alli's talent, but England is hoping his career doesn't follow the same path as the lumbersome Michael Ricketts.
The former Bolton Wanderers striker played just one half of football for England under Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2002, and his career took a nosedive shortly afterward. For the Three Lions it didn't matter, but the burly forward must rue his decision not to represent and win plenty of caps for Jamaica or the United States instead.
So what's more important for the English Football Association: slow and careful development of players through the youth sides, or a quick and premature call-up so the footballer cannot be selected by another country of his lineal descent?
Probably the latter.
