Let me start this post with a question.
When was the last time you heard of a player withdraw from an international squad four hours after being called up for it?
I haven't spent the week stalking Wes Hoolahan, but I'm pretty sure about one thing - Hoolahan didn't pick up in an Achilles injury in the hours between the FAI revealed news of his long-awaited recall into the Ireland squad for the Serbia friendly next week and the moment it was revealed he wouldn't be participating.
According to this morning's Eastern Daily Press, Wes hasn't trained this week and he'll miss a friendly today against Borussia Monchengladbach because of a 'minor niggle'. Chris Hughton expects he'll be ready to start Norwich's Premier League campaign against Fulham next Saturday. The Guardian's David Hytner asked the rather obvious question on Twitter last night:
So Hoolahan is now out of the IRE squad with an Achilles problem. Did nobody check his fitness BEFORE his call-up was announced?
— David Hytner (@DaveHytner) August 10, 2012
While Chris Hughton has spoken about his desire to see Hoolhan back in a green jersey, it was highly unlikely that he was going to risk the player a week before the season starts for a meaningless friendly in Belgrade. It's hard to shake the impression that Trap simply didn't touch base with Hoolahan before calling him into the squad.
As far as the optics go, the incident seems to do nothing but compound Hoolahan's woe - overlooked for so long, and then called up when it was highly unlikely he could make the squad. (On the flip side, conspiracy theorists might wonder if Trap was simply trying to score a few cheap points with the media and supporters by calling up a player he knew could not make the squad). As usual with Trap, it seems like the whole situation could have easily been avoided.
