Bojan Too Tired for Euros

Clarence Seedorf pulled out of what would have been his last ever Euros recently, and now Spain’s Barcelona starlet Bojan Krkić has ruled himself out of what would have been his first ever trip to the tournament. Because he’s too tired.

Too tired? Does anyone actually want to play in this tournament? Did it suddenly become the Carling Cup of international football or something? I’m not too happy about this, because youngsters like Bojan emerging on the scene are a big part of what makes a tournament so thrilling. But the 17-year-old would rather stay in bed than play on the big stage this summer. Maybe someone just bought him a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4? I hear it’s addictive.

[deep breath]

On the other hand… Bojan makes the very good point that he’s pretty much burned out from playing too much football. He’s already played in two international tournaments recently: The U-17 European Championship and U-17 World Cup, as well as turning out for Spain’s U-21 team. Not to mention all the games for Barcelona in La Liga and Champions League.

All told, UEFA calculate that Bojan has played 64 games in 12 months. Which is a fair few for a 17 year old. And it’s a little sensationalist to say he’s “pulled out” of the squad. Seems more like he’s told Luis Aragones that he’s just not up to it. So let’s just get used to the idea of a Bojan-less Euro 2008 and hope the youngster makes the most of his rest (which doesn’t mean completing GTA 4, mister) and returns for 2008/9 at full strength.