When the Birmingham City players come back for pre-season training tomorrow, there will be at least one notable absentee. Chilean international Jean Beausejour is in the Chile squad at the Copa America, and he should be in the lineup to face Mexico in the Estadio del Bicentario in San Juan, Argentina which kicks off in the early hours of Tuesday morning, British time.

Whilst Beausejour’s career at Blues didn’t really take off until the second half of the season, the twenty seven year old has been a stalwart of la Roja. At last year’s World Cup in South Africa, he played every one of Chile’s four games, scoring one goal against Honduras. In the group games he played as a left-sided forward before dropping back to the left midfield role that he has occupied at Birmingham City.

I suspect we’ll see a different side of Beausejour’s game in the Copa America. South American football is a lot more about individual flair than team ethic; there tends to be spectacular goals and spectacular fouls. One worry on Chris Hughton’s mind may be that he would want our Chilean to come back from Argentina without sustaining any bad injuries; if we’re to do well in the Championship we’re going to need Jean back in tip-top condition as he’s likely to be vital to us in our promotion campaign.

The Copa starts late enough for Jean to hopefully have had some rest since that fateful day at White Hart Lane; he’s played in two warm up games for Chile and whilst I think it’s going to be excellent for his conditioning to play these prestigious games it’s easily possible that Jean will need to sit out a couple of our pre-season games on his return to ensure he’s not knackered before our long season starts.

I thought that Beausejour would be more of a targeted player in the summer; despite taking a little while to settle down I thought he really came to the fore as the season progressed and he was starting to really show what he is capable of. I have a feeling that some good displays at this year’s Copa America could encourage teams to bid for him, and I hope that Birmingham City have the wherewithal to be able to hold onto him.

The tournament is live on ESPN, and has already kicked off with Argentina stumbling to a 1-1 draw against unfancied Bolivia, and Colombia narrowly beating by a single goal to nil Costa Rica, who are late replacement invitees after Japan pulled out. Chile’s first game kicks off at 1:45am Tuesday morning, so it might be one to record unless you’re a real night owl.

Tags: Jean Beausejour