Internationals are important but not that much!
As we know our young English stars Bukayo Saka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have been called up to the England senior squad for the upcoming internationals over the next two weeks.
Of course, it is a proud moment for both the players and the club, as having players called up to their respective national teams show that the player is doing something right and performance and attitude wise and this can only be a positive thing.
England kick off with a friendly against Wales this week and then in the space of three days face off against Belgium and then Denmark in their Nations League group Matches. Whether Southgate will use our boys for all those matches remains to be seen, but in a way part of me hopes he does and part of me hope he doesn’t.
Why may you ask, well simply because, yes, playing for your country is an honour and shows that you can compete and play for your club and country at the same time and it also shows that you have also caught the eye of not just your club manager but the international manager too, especially when there is so much talent and competition to go up against. But in contrast to this, the more games they play the more at risk they will be of getting injured. This can also be true for when they play for their clubs, but normally the way our luck goes, our players seem to pick up the most awful niggling injuries in friendly games, whether that be for club or country and then we are left without them for a number of weeks or months.
We may not have to worry too much where Saka and Maitland-Niles are concerned though, because the competition for places in that England squad is very high, so if they get a game each and come through it unscathed then I would be happy for them to sit as a spectator for the other two games.
Of course I wish all our players the best of luck going into their international games for the next two weeks and I hope they all come back just as fit and full of confidence as they did before they left. Gooners?
Shenel Osman
