Brighton asked to release player tomorrow for World Cup – Want him to join squad early

Ecuador have asked Brighton and Hove Albion to release Jeremy Sarmiento tomorrow night rather than waiting until Sunday for him to join their squad.

That’s according to journalist Andre Villamarin, who says the Ecuadorian FA want the youngster to join the squad in Madrid.

The countries taking part in the World Cup are currently assembling their squads ahead of the tournament, with this weekend seeing the final set of games before the competition in Qatar.

English teams have two sets of fixtures to complete before that point, with the EFL Cup scheduled for tomorrow and the final round of Premier League fixtures on Sunday.

It seems Ecuador are hoping to have Sarmiento earlier, though, and have asked Brighton to allow him to join the squad in Madrid after Wednesday’s game.

Now, Villamarin says this is a Premier League fixture, but we’ll assume he’s simply mistaken the EFL Cup clash with Arsenal for a Premier League game.

What’s interesting is that the Ecuadorian FA haven’t asked for Moises Caicedo to join the group early, although he is far more of a first team regular at Brighton than Sarmiento.

The 20-year-old has only managed 19 minutes of football in the Premier League and Premier League 2 this season and it seems Ecuador are hoping to take advantage of that to get him early ahead of the World Cup.