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From behind their paywall, The Sun is reporting that Ireland manager Martin O'Neill is pursuing Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane for a switch from England. He's eligible to play for the Irish through his father, and O'Neill has apparently already reached out to the player and his parents.
Kane has played seven times for the England Under-21s, scoring five goals. He's going to keep getting Under-21 call-ups, but he's probably not going to be close to the senior England squad unless he's starting (which he should be) and scoring (which he will, dang it) for Tottenham. And even then, he's going to struggle to get in ahead of Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney.
On the other hand, Ireland aren't that good. There's also the entirely personal aspect of this -- Kane may feel serious allegiance to one country and not the other, or both, or might not care at all.
There are plenty of reasons for Kane to make this switch. Here are a few good ones.
The Euro field has expanded, and the World Cup field will
Kane shouldn't be concerned about a switch meaning he misses out on major finals forever. Ireland has made major finals when they were hard to make, and soon they won't be hard to make. Ireland are already in great position to make Euro 2016 because of the field expansion, and the World Cup are going to do the same because FIFA like money.
Ireland's strikers are bad
Shane Long isn't horrible, but he's not a starter for Southampton at the moment, and he's by far the best Ireland have. Robbie Keane is going to retire soon, Anthony Stokes plays in a league worse than MLS or the Championship, and Kevin Doyle hasn't even been decent for a very, very long time. Even if Kane is a cup/Europa player for Spurs or moves to a lower table team, he'll get playing time for Ireland.
International form can help club careers, but never hurts it
Players get shots for their club teams or big money transfers because of good international form all the time. Can you name any players who have been benched for their clubs because they can't score for their country, or who have missed out on big time transfers after big club seasons because they stunk internationally? This literally never happens. A chance to play more internationals is probably a good thing for Kane's career.
Even England fans hate England
Would you rather play for a team where the fans sing their hearts out during 4-0 losses, or one whose fans boo and hiss during 1-0 wins?