Paraguay manager Gustavo Alfaro has admitted he’s spoken to Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Julio Enciso and told him he doesn’t need to be so transparent with the media.
Versus cover comments from the Paraguay manager today in which he was asked about Enciso’s recent comments about his call-up.
The Brighton man had been open with the media, admitting he had not expected to be called up for this international break as he’s barely featured for the Seagulls this season.
The 20-year-old has only featured in 8% of the minutes for Brighton in the Premier League this season, with 23 minutes against Ipswich in September the most minutes he’s managed in the league.
He has been a regular and picked up minutes in the EFL Cup but has sat on the bench for Brighton’s last two games against Liverpool and Manchester City.
Enciso is aware that’s not ideal and openly admitted because of his lack of regular minutes this season he had not expected to be a part of Alfaro’s squad for the clashes against Argentina and Bolivia.
Alfaro insists that minutes weren’t in his thinking, though, and has even had a word with Enciso about making such comments publicly.
“Julio is very transparent,” he said.
“I told him the other day, ‘Julio, this is a medium where it is the other way around, you don’t always have to say what you think, many times you have to think very carefully about what you say, because anything you say can be interpreted in a thousand ways.
“The answers I always saw from Julio, from Miguel (Almirón), obviously one always wants them to play, to add minutes, to have competition, but I always want them with me and Julito is in that struggle of his own maturation.
“He has to mature in the meantime, he has to do it while the competition is maturing, but I cannot deprive myself of the talent of Julio Enciso, in the same way that I cannot deprive myself of the talent of Diego Gómez, of Miguel Almirón, of Ramón Sosa, of Hugo Cuenca.”
