Emiliano Martínez, Valentín Barco, Aarón Anselmino called up by Argentina

There’s an international break after this weekend’s matches, but for a fair few Chelsea boys, there will be no rest. And among those set for national team duty are our trio or Argentinians.

Trio? — you might ask. Who all could that be? After all, Enzo Fernández is gone. Alejandro Garnacho is gone. And Emi Martínez has a broken face. Who’s left? Valentín Barco. Sure. Get in the chopper!

But joining Barco are indeed Martínez, and, in an even bigger surprise, Aarón Anselmino — man with no actual minutes of competitive senior football yet this season. Maybe Argentina just want their own Estêvão situation.

Argentina are playing only a couple friendlies during this break, against Uruguay and Costa Rica, and manager Lionel Scaloni is using this opportunity to check out some fresh faces. Anselmino is one of two players called up with zero senior caps, and one of nine with less than five. (Barco himself is barely above that threshold at seven.)

And Emi’s inclusion is hopefully a good sign that is recovery from the fractured jaw he suffered against Everton a few weeks ago is going well. Let’s see that mask!