Despite being picked for the first time to be part of Sweden’s first-team for the current international break, Manchester United starlet Anthony Elanga will not be part of the starting XI against the Czech Republic.
That’s what manager Janne Andersson announced on Monday evening, making it clear he wouldn’t just play the winger, who is also eligible to play for England and Cameroon, to ensure he can’t feature for the other two in the future.
Asked about the Manchester United player and relayed by Expressen, Andersson stressed: “I do not reason like that. He has said that Sweden applies to him 100%. I trust what he said to me.”
As for whether he would feature against the Czech Republic, he added: “It depends on what role you have in the team. If we’re talking about someone like Anthony, if we were to chase something, we could bring him in. If we defend and counter, then we can use him that way too.
“Will he play from the start? He will not do that, unless anything unforeseen happens, but he can definitely jump in for us.”
Elanga, who was born in Hyllie in Sweden, has represented his country at U17 and U21 level so far, scoring seven goals in eight appearances for the latter over the years.
He’s also grown into something of an impact sub for Ralf Rangnick at Manchester United, featuring in the last 11 Premier League games for the Red Devils, starting six of them.
Either way, it appears the forward is fully committed to the Sweden national team, and doesn’t really have any interest in holding out for either England or Cameroon going forward.
