Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta admits he was ready to commit himself to England this season.
The Spaniard, however, says FIFA's new eligibility laws have ended his hopes.
"If it had been any other country I would have said no, but I've been over here for most of my career, it's my second home," he said. "My family are here, my kid's at nursery, I have everything. So I was really thinking seriously about it."
He considers FIFA Article 18.1a - which stipulates that any player who wants to switch to the second of his dual nationalities must have held that second nationality at the time he represented his original country at junior or Under-21 level - to be the end of the matter.
"It was an issue and now it's not any more, but at least it saves me from having to make a decision," Arteta said. "Rules are rules. We knew it wasn't going to be easy so that's it now."
