European teams are pressuring young Australian players to reject international call-ups and focus on their club careers – a worrying trend that Graham Arnold fears could jeopardise the Olyroos ’ Olympic hopes. Arnold named a 25-man squad on Thursday for the Socceroos ’ upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Lebanon, headlined, however, was not named.
Nor was he included in the Olyroos squad unveiled last week for a warm-up tournament in Saudi Arabia, ahead of next month’s Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.was not included in the Socceroos’ Asian Cup squad either . Arnold made the calculation that by leaving him out of that tournament, his club Parma would be more likely to let him play in the Olympic qualifiers, which will take place outside the usual FIFA windows which compel clubs to release their players for national duty. European clubs tend to take a dim view of Australian players being involved in youth internationals or playing bit-part roles for senior international teams because of the long-haul travel involved which impacts on their availability for club fixture
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