The international scene is one that has certainly lit the heather on fire for the Celtic support this season.
From Hajime Moriyasu snubbing Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate to Roberto Martinez’s confession that he has been keeping a close eye on Jota and Hyeongyu Oh impressing Jurgen Klinsmann, the inner workings of the international scene have certainly been bittersweet for Celtic.
But it seems that Alexandro Bernabei is being discussed as a possible candidate to be called up to the Argentina national squad.
Argentine media outlet Elfutbolero has said that the Hoops full-back should be drafted in as one to look at for the World Champions’ upcoming games against China and Indonesia.
The media outlet says Bernabei’s ‘speed and youth’ should make him a ‘probable’ candidate for Lionel Scaloni but they also warned that a move to a ‘more competitive league’ would help his chances.
Current left-back’s, Marcos Ancuna of Sevilla is 31 years old and Nicolás Tagliafico of Lyon is 30 years old. By the time the next World Cup comes around both will be well into their advanced years.
The third choice left back is Elche’s Lautaro Blanco and at 24 years old, is yet to earn his first international cap at any level. Admittedly Bernabei only has one cap at u23 level but if there ever was an opportunity to break into the international team, now is that time.
But first, the 22-year-old full-back needs to oust Greg Taylor. And that doesn’t look like happening any time soon.
However, with four games left in a league campaign that is effectively over, Bernabei is likely to get more minutes from now until the end of the season so he will have that opportunity to show the Argentina manager what he can do.
If anything, all this talk will do is benefit Celtic. Having two motivated full-backs competing for one place will help the overall performance of the side. And that can only be a good thing.
In other news, Jota is firmly in Roberto Martinez’s Portugal thoughts
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