With Brazil manager Tite on Friday announcing the squad which will travel for the upcoming games of the World Cup qualifiers, the local media is full of complaints about the list chosen by the coach.
Former national team striker Walter Casagrande, who has a blog on Globo Esporte, features a piece criticising several names in the sheet. And he makes an observation regarding Gabriel Martinelli.
The Arsenal striker is now set to make his debut for Brazil. Since he has Italian passport, he could have chosen the other country, and that’s the reason for some concern about his call-up.
“And another thing: I hope that Tite didn’t call Martinelli just so he can no longer be called up by the Italian national team and interfere with his professional life,” writes Casagrande.
That assumption does make sense if you take a clear example.
Chelsea’s Jorginho, arguably one of the best midfielder’s in the world last year, has recently won the Euros with Italy. Despite being born and raised in Brazil, where he still spends his vacations, he’s playing for someone else and could easily fit in Tite’s team.
So with Martinelli being only 20, it wouldn’t be strange to see the manager trying to guarantee the Arsenal player’s future with the yellow shirt.
