Blues centre-half Elkan Baggott has been named in the Indonesia U23s squad for their AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in September.

Baggott, 20, has previously won 16 full caps, scoring two goals, but has been included in the U23s squad this time around as Indonesia look to qualify for the 2024 Asian Cup finals in Qatar and then potentially the Olympics in Paris with the top three teams at the finals earning a trip to France.

Indonesia’s U23s are hosting their qualification group and take on Chinese Taipei in their first match at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta on Saturday 9th September and then Turkmenistan at the same venue three days later.

The senior squad have a friendly against Turkmenistan during the upcoming international break.

Baggott, previously uncapped at U23 level having jumped from the U19s to the first team, pulled up with an injury during last night’s Carabao Cup in at Reading.

However, assistant manager Martyn Pert said afterwards that it was nothing to be concerned about.

“His calf, it was just cramp,” he said. “It was a bad cramp, but it’s cramp. It looked like someone had shot him, didn’t it? But it was cramp and he’s OK.”

Baggott could move out on loan before Friday's deadline with manager Kieran McKenna having been considering the best option for the central defender, who spent time at Gillingham and Cheltenham last season, for the campaign ahead.

“Elkan gives us good cover and an option in that position at the moment,” McKenna said a fortnight ago.

“As I’ve said, he is improving game by game. One area in any decisions we’ll make around a young player’s future will be the strength of the squad at the moment.

“But in the situation at the moment, that’s certainly not the only criteria around whether Elkan stays with the squad this season. It’s a number of different factors.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Monkey_Blue added 17:32 - Aug 30 Thought he was very good last night possibly our best player along with Hutchinson.
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davidsc1971 added 18:45 - Aug 30 Had an excellent game last night, seemed to be everywhere in the defensive third. Great squad player and stepping up quickly with it
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eddiespearitt03 added 14:28 - Aug 31 Definitely got a good football career with Ipswich ahead of him. Very impressed . Well done Elkan !!!
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Linkboy13 added 18:36 - Aug 31 Still a way off being championship standard in my opinion. Did well against a very weak and young Reading team. Needs to go out on loan to work for his place in the squad as did Downes and Wolfenden didn't do them no harm.
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