Pochettino unhappy with Tottenham star’s international call up

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is not happy with Giovani Lo Celso’s inclusion in Argentina’s latest squad.

Lo Celso, a deadline-day signing from Real Betis, picked up a hip injury while on international duty in September and has only made two substitute appearances for Spurs since, which have totalled just 13 minutes of action.

That has not stopped Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni calling him into his squad for friendlies against Brazil and Uruguay, set to be played in Saudi Arabia and Israel later this month.

Pochettino would rather the 23-year-old stay at the club’s training base, but as a proud winner of 20 Argentina caps he knows what it means to players when they get the call.

“In general, always the manager you want your players at home,” he said.

 

“For him it’s going to be tough, because when he’s nearly fit again to start to play he needs to go away.

“Changing the dynamics of training sessions, some wrong situations can happen.

“Being honest, I am not happy. But I accept it as I always defend the national team and back the decision of the national team as I was a player and know what it feels to play.

“I can do nothing, only to show and describe my feelings.”

Lo Celso could get more minutes under his belt when Spurs visit Everton on Saturday, looking to move out of the bottom half of the Premier League.

Read more: Pochettino has given an update on Ryan Sessegnon’s chances of making his long-awaited debut against Everton.