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‘The General’ called to duty

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Hammers central defender Fabian Balbuena is the latest player to ensure that he has a busy summer.

The £4 million signing -m who has been quite outstanding during his first season at the London Stadium – has been named in Paraguay’s final 23-man squad for the 2019 Copa America finals.

Declan Rice was of course included in Gareth Southgate’s final squad for the European Nations Cup games and it’s great to see another Iron recognised at international level.

Balbuena  was selected by manager Paraguay manager Eduardo Berizzo as he cut his provisional 39-man squad by 16 on Wednesday.

The centre-back reacted to the news with a positive post on social media, writing ‘Very happy for the call for the Copa America. Come on you White and Reds!’.

It’s always pleasing to see our guys selected for their international teams but of course there is the accompanying worry of injury and having recovered from a four month absence our fingers are firmly crossed that The General avoids any further problems.

He has been quite outstanding and demonstrated that often a fortune doesn’t have to be spent to find top players as of course was the case with Declan and to a lesser extent Issa Diop.

It will presumably mean that both players will rejoin the Hammers squad later than the rest of the boys ahead of the pre-season which includes the trip to Hong Kong for The Asia Cup.

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

2 comments

  • Dom says:

    I’d be happy if none of our players were called up. A summer without a rest and at risk of injury. Fingers crossed he and Declan come through unscathed and get an extended break.

    • Hammer_Rite says:

      Yeah agree dom .
      Getting called up is like the kiss of death for injuries.

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