With Brazil undoubtedly having one of the best national team squads in the world, it’s not an easy job to predict which players are going to the World Cup, especially when speaking of attackers.
Even though manager Tite already has a consistent list who’ve been with him in past call-ups, the local media is often suggesting new names who should at least get a chance to prove themselves with the yellow shirt.
One of them is Palmeiras midfielder Gustavo Scarpa, who as widely reported, is moving to Nottingham Forest as a free agent in January 2023. The 28-year-old is having a great season with his club, and with Flamengo’s Everton Ribeiro being called up for the upcoming friendlies instead of him, there’s been a lot of criticism of the coach’s decision.
So as Tite last night spoke to Sportv’s Bem Amigos, he claimed that the future Nottingham Forest player could still go to the World Cup, even though there’ll be no more chances to test him in friendlies now.
“Yes, I really like Scarpa. Some time ago, I asked about Scarpa’s situation. He was called up when he was at Fluminense. He has a creative ability, with mobility. He’s a very good player, he has peripheral vision,” said Tite (via UOL).
“The national team needs to affirm its consolidation in these two games. Is this call serving as an opportunity? Yes. If it was [final] a call-up, would they be the same names? No.
“Anyone who didn’t get called up can still go. They’re running and we’ll be following along. It’s consolidating, it’s giving these athletes the opportunity to play.”
As reported by the Brazilian media last week, Palmeiras even tried to hijack Scarpa’s pre-contract agreement with Nottingham Forest. The club wanted to pay a €5m fine to cancel the deal between the midfielder and the Premier League club.
The player, however, chose to honour his agreement and shall continue with the decision to join them once his contract with the Verdão runs out in December.
