Roma defender Roger Ibanez refuses to rule out playing for Italy and reveals José Mourinho warned him about attending the Olympic Games this summer.
The 22-year-old was born in Brazil, but has Uruguay and Italian passports. Therefore he is eligible to play for three different national teams.
He could have joined the Brazilian Olympic squad in Brazil over the summer, but he eventually didn’t take part in the competition.
“Mourinho knew how much I wanted it, he only told me to be careful because had I played the Olympics, I would have missed the pre-season, needing to recover the lost ground,” Ibanez told Il Corriere dello Sport.
“If it were up to me, I would have gone, we even won the gold medal, but Roma decided that it was better not to go, so it’s fine anyway.
“You always want to learn with a coach like Mourinho, he’s already taught me so many things.
“I was born in Brazil and I feel Brazilian,” the defender continued.
“I’d like to play in the Seleçao, but let’s see what happens because I have Italian and Uruguayan passports, so I’ll listen to who will call me.
“Football has changed, I’ve spoken with the ‘Brazilian players’ of Italy national team. [Rafael] Toloi is a friend of mine, he was a point of reference when I was at Atalanta. Let’s see what happens.”
The Giallorossi travel to the Allianz Stadium to face Juventus on Sunday.
“It’s a special game. We’ve been preparing for it for days, they are a big team, but we are improving too,” the defender concluded.
“I was born in Brazil and I feel Brazilian. I’d like to play in the Seleçao, but let’s see what happens…”
This should preclude him from Mancini’s thoughts. He sounds like he is only interested in raising his profile and market value to me.
He should fight for his place in the Selecao where his heart clearly is. Italy (and Uruguay) should never be a second or third choice for a player, a last resort. At least with Jorginho he has blood ties to Italy. He’s also been saying (for ages) how he feels Italian, how he loves Italy, and how he’s spent almost half of his life in Italy. He’s more than shown this on the pitch. Ibanez, on the other hand, has only been in Italy for a couple of years.
Ibanez words disappoint me. The beauty of the International game is that it’s a diversity of cultures and footballing cultures, with all of their idiosyncrasies and philosophies, competing against one another.
Ibanez’ attitude only serves to water down the prestige, and point, of International football. If everyone felt as he did, the differences between club and International football would be barely indistinguishable.
^ Co Signed
He’s from Rio Grande do Sul and has am Italian passport so I’m sure probably 1/8th or 1/16th of him is Italian.
But Mancio will surely consider it. It’s not a secret that our once strong suit of young Center Backs ceases to exist these years.
When no 2 CB’e in the age range of 23-28 have not been able to push out Chiellini and Bonucci then it’s clear there is an issue.
Years ago I really belived Daniele Rugani was going to be one of these players but he has wilted away on the bench instead of forcing a move to a mid table team to play.
damn we do not need that mercenary on our team