Report: Jamaica’s FIFA ranking preventing Andre Blake transfer to England

A multi-million dollar move to the English Premier League for Andre Blake after his standout performance for Jamaica at this summer’s Gold Cup was blocked because of Jamaica’s low FIFA ranking, sources have confirmed to Ives Galarcep for a report on Goal.com.

Galarcep reports that Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace both made multi-million offers for the Philadelphia Union goalkeeper after Jamica’s run to the Gold Cup final.

Both deals fell apart because Blake doesn’t qualify for a U.K. work permit. The snag in the work permit is due to the Jamaican national team’s low FIFA rating, Galarcep reported.

The report notes that Jamaica is currently ranked 61st in the world and hasn’t been in the top 50 of the FIFA rankings for more than a decade, a threshold apparently used in England to grant work permits for foreign transfer targets.

Blake helped lead the Reggae Boyz to the Gold Cup final, where they lost to the United States 2-1 in a game Blake had to leave in the first half after injuring his hand on a collision with Kellyn Acosta.

The 26-year-old returned to the Union lineup on August 23 after missing four games. He had arguably his best game of the season on Sunday with eight saves to preserve his eighth clean sheet of the season and hold the New York Red Bulls to a draw.

Blake was valued at a little over $1 million on Transfermarkt in the latest update back in May.