RYAN NOLAN COULD be handed a competitive first-team debut for Inter Milan tomorrow evening.
The central defender has been named in Luciano Spalletti’s matchday squad for the first leg of Inter’s Europa League last-32 game away to Rapid Vienna.
Nolan’s inclusion represents a significant step in the right direction for the Irishman, who is the captain of the Nerazzurri’s youth team.
Last summer, he was handed a two-year contract extension with the San Siro outfit after featuring for the first-team in a pre-season friendly against Swiss side Lugano.
Nolan was born in Clare but moved to Spain with his family at the age of eight. He joined Inter in 2015 after being scouted by the Italian giants.
Despite spending a substantial portion of his life in Spain and Italy, Nolan said in a recent interview with Pundit Arena that his preference is to represent the Republic of Ireland. The Inter youngster has been capped by Ireland at U17 and U18 level.
He said: “Ireland is the focus for me right now. I’m 100% Irish. Even my accent is more Irish than most. I 100% want to play for Ireland. I want to put on the green jersey, definitely.”
📄 | Our 19-man matchday squad for #RapidInter in the #UEL 👇 pic.twitter.com/KWxG7aJk22
— Inter (@Inter_en) February 13, 2019
Miranda, Stefan de Vrij and Andrea Ranocchia are the other central defenders in the Inter squad for tomorrow’s game in Austria. Two of Ryan Nolan’s youth-team colleagues, midfielders Thomas Schirò and Maj Rorič, are also among the travelling party.
Argentine striker Mauro Icardi has been left out amid the ongoing contract impasse which has resulted in him being stripped of the captaincy.
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