Former Manchester City youngster Pablo Maffeo is set to be a shock call-up to the Argentina national team for the next international break.
That’s according to TyC Sports, who say Lionel Scaloni could call up the defender, despite him having appeared for Spain’s youth sides in the past.
Maffeo has reportedly been impressing for Mallorca in La Liga this season and his performances have caught the eye of the coaching staff in the Argentina set up.
Their plan is to now call him up for the games against Uruguay and Brazil later this month, with the defender reportedly eligible to obtain citizenship through his mother, who was born in Argentina.
It would be an abrupt change of international allegiance for the former Manchester City man, who has played for Spain’s U16s, U17s and U21s in the past but never for the senior side.
He’s been with Mallorca since last year when he joined from VfB Stuttgart in a €3m deal after months of bouncing around Europe with various clubs.
He started his career at Espanyol before joining Manchester City’s youth set up in 2013, eventually ending up in the first-team squad before loans with Girona and then a €9m move to Stuttgart.
That didn’t work out and he was loaned to Girona and then Huesca before then joining Mallorca, again on loan before making the move a permanent one last year.
He’s seemingly impressed in that period, particularly this season and is now set for perhaps the biggest move of his career, to the current reigning World Cup holders.
According to TyC’s information, Scaloni has been watching the defender for some time and Lionel Messi himself is a big fan, having admitted he’s the defender who marked him “hardest”.
They came up against each other in 2017 in a ‘memorable match’ in which he ‘erased’ Messi from the game. Messi later admitted to having struggled against him and it seems that recognition, despite being six years old, hasn’t been forgotten.
Scaloni has been watching him since last year after taking in a clash between Mallorca and Barcelona, where the media team for the club asked him if he was watching the defender.
He replied at the time that he was one to look at for the future and it seems the time has now come for his chance, once various bureaucratic issues have been dealt with.
SORPRESA EN LA SELECCIÓN: SCALONI PODRÍA CITAR AL ESPAÑOL MAFFEO 🚨🇦🇷
El cuerpo técnico de Argentina piensa convocar al lateral derecho del Mallorca, con pasado en el Manchester City, para la próxima doble fecha de Eliminatorias. Tiene 26 años y podría obtener la ciudadanía por… pic.twitter.com/HQEEW5llj0
— TyC Sports (@TyCSports) November 8, 2023
