Andre Blake is becoming one of the best talents in MLS and in the Caribbean as a whole.
Look at his most recent start versus the New York Red Bulls where Blake had eight saves (3-4 of which were of the superhuman variety) and it's clear that he could do this on a higher level. According to Goal.com the reason why he isn't playing on a higher level is of no fault of his own.
Senior writer Ives Galarcep wrote,
Sources confirmed to Goal that Premier League sides Brighton and Crystal Palace made multi-million dollar offers for Blake this past summer after his outstanding CONCACAF Gold Cup showing. Unfortunately for Blake and the interested clubs, the deals fell apart because Blake doesn't qualify for a U.K. work permit. The main reason for Blake's inability to secure a work permit? Jamaica's low FIFA ranking.
Combine that with the offers that came for Blake a few years ago from the Belgian league and it's clear that he's stirring up interest in Europe but is unable to get a move due to his countries low FIFA ranking. Generally, if a country is within the top 50 of FIFA's rankings it's pretty easy to get a work permit but Blake's Jamacia squad currently sits at 61 in the rankings. This ranking is actually down four spots from their rank of 57 appearances in the Gold Cup finals earlier in the summer.
Above Jamacia is teams like Haiti, Burkina Faso, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Panama. While I'm not saying that Jamacia should be a top 50 nation at this point, they do deserve to be ranked higher than they are. This is the same team that has been the Gold Cup runners-up in the past two seasons. They have been docked for a friendly loss to Canada that shouldn't carry the weight that it does.
As shown with Blake, this is hurting their national team players and is an issue that needs to be looked at by FIFA. Players like Blake should have no issue getting their permits to try their skills in Europe.
