CELTIC defender Jozo Simunovic is ready to ditch Croatia and play for Bosnia.
The Hoops centre-half, 22, was born in Zagreb and has represented Croatia at all levels from Under-14s to 21s.
Simunovic has never been capped at full level although he was called into the full squad two years ago, but had to pull out through injury.
However, he’s also able to represent Bosnia through family ties and has held talks with their Football Association about changing his international allegiances.
Boss Mehmed Bazdarevic is desperate to persuade the former Dinamo Zagreb star to switch nations and reports suggest Simunovic has already completed the paperwork with the Bosnian FA and is willing to play for them immediately.
The classy back-four operator is believed to have become frustrated at a lack of opportunities under Croatian boss Ante Cacic, despite his excellent form for Brendan Rodgers’ historic treble-winners last season.
Simunovic is behind Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Dinamo Kiev, Besiktas defender Matej Mitrovic and Tin Jedvaj, Bayer Leverkusen, in the queue for a central defensive slot.
And if the switch goes through, the Hoops ace could make his debut for his new country in their World Cup double-header next month against Cyprus and Gibraltar.
Here is the new CQN Podcast…
is the new CQN Podcast…
The Hector’s Gotcha t-shirts have arrived and are all being posted out first class on Monday morning. If you want one of the first batch ordered and want to have it for Tuesday morning then order now at cqnbookstore.com
