Mexico boss praises Marcelo Flores’ ‘momentous’ decision | OneFootball

Mexico boss Tata Martino thinks it’s huge for Marcelo Flores to be around the senior national team whether he’s playing a lot or not.

Marcelo Flores playing for Mexico in a friendly match against Chile (Photo via Mexican National Team on Twitter)

Marcelo Flores is once again with the Mexican senior national team for the current international break, as they prepare for a couple of CONCACAF Nations League matches against Suriname and Jamaica.

But though the Arsenal youngster has been with the squad all month, he’s yet to appear in the team or on the bench in their two friendlies against Uruguay and Ecuador.

Explaining Flores’ current situation, Mexico boss Tata Martino says the teenager should get a chance in the upcoming fixtures, but his presence with the squad is about more than gametime.

“He will surely complete minutes in these two games that we are going to have, but Marcelo can grow up next to the best football players that Mexico has, and for a boy of 17 or 18 years old that is a momentous decision,” Martino said.

“He recently made the decision to represent Mexico and now what he is doing is living alongside future teammates; the great figures that perhaps in a short time will not be there anymore.

“Training alongside Héctor Moreno, Héctor Herrera, Guillermo Ochoa, and that’s fantastic for him.

“What is most useful for Marcelo being here is that he knows what it is to be a national team. Then he has to build a career at an individual level to be considered in the future, but it helps him a lot to know what it is to be a national team.”

After completing his international duties next Wednesday, Flores had the option of joining up with Mexico u20s for their u20 World Cup qualifiers.

However, u20 boss Luis Perez has already confirmed that the youngster will be linking up with Arsenal for pre-season instead.

Though the Mexico u20 fixtures (20th-24th June) don’t directly clash with Arsenal’s pre-season training (starting on 27th June), Flores would have to go from the Mexico senior side to the u20s to Arsenal – without any break.

In order to be ready for Arsenal in pre-season, he needs a couple of weeks off after the senior internationals.