We’re beginning to get a clearer picture of who will be going to the World Cup.
England will announce their squad later today, Brazil have already named their 26, while Japan did theirs quite some time ago now.
Croatia are one of the latest teams to name the players that will be heading to Qatar to represent their nation, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Tottenham’s Ivan Perisic has made the cut.
The 34-year-old has been a mainstay in this Croatia side for over a decade now, and he’s set to head to yet another World Cup after reaching the final last time out.
However, some may have spotted something interesting in Croatia’s announcement.
Indeed, Perisic has been named in the squad, but he’s been listed in a rather interesting position.
As you can see in the above announcement, Perisic has been named as one of Croatia’s attackers – despite the fact he’s played mostly as a defender for Tottenham this season.
In Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3, Perisic has often been utilised as a wing-back, and he’s played that role at Inter for years prior to his move to north London.
However, the versatile veteran is seemingly going to be used as more of an attacking outlet at this tournament, potentially returning to his roots as a left winger.
Perisic has often played on the wing for his country – perhaps most famously at the 2018 World Cup where he scored in both the semi-finals and final of the tournament.
The Spurs star will be hoping to repeat the trick this time around and have an impact in the latter stages of the World Cup, and perhaps a move further up the pitch will see him rediscover his best form after a sub-par past few weeks at Spurs.
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