Juventus defender Gleison Bremer and Roma’s Roger Ibanez have received their first call-ups for the Brazil national team, meaning they probably won’t be available for Italy.
Coach Tite named his squad for the upcoming friendlies against Ghana on September 23 and Tunisia on September 27.
Both games will be played in France, in Le Havre and Paris, as warm-ups for the 2022 World Cup, which begins in November in Qatar.
It is the first ever call-up for Bremer, who hit the headlines this summer following his €41m plus €8m in bonuses transfer from Torino to Juventus.
He was at the centre of a bidding war including Inter, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United.
The timing of this call raises eyebrows, as the 25-year-old is very close to achieving Italian citizenship, so would soon be available for an Azzurri cap.
He came to Italy in 2018 for Torino from Atletico Mineiro.
As for Ibanez, the 23-year-old already has dual citizenship and came to Italy in 2019 for Atalanta before moving to Roma in January 2020.
Unlike Bremer, Ibanez did represent Brazil at Under-23 level with six caps, but this is his first senior call.
Other Serie A players in the squad are Alex Sandro (Juventus) and Danilo (Juventus).
Bremer is Brazilian and his heart is to play for Brazil first and foremost. It’s only right. We have to bring up our own strong center backs because football has told us before that we bring up the strongest center backs. No excuses, we’ve come up with too many lately.
We can do without both.