Leicester City striker, Leonardo Ulloa has reportedly followed the lead of Mauro Zárate and agreed to represent Chile rather than his native Argentina. The 28-year-old has still not represented La Albiceleste and despite enjoying a fine start to life in the Premier League was not named in the latest squad. It is now thought that Ulloa will accept the offer to play for Chile as he has a Chilean grandmother.

Sergio Jadue, President of the Chilean Football Federation defended the policy of offering an alternative international career to such players. Speaking to Chilean radio, Jadue said:

“We are not taking advantage of a situation, a foreign player comes to Chile, is years here and we nationalise them”.  

Adding, in the case of Zárate , “he is the son of a Chilean, by which our Constitution establishes the right. It is one Chilean more and we hope to have him and others.”

In the case of Zárate with a link as strong as a father, plus an ever-increasing chance that he will not be called up to represent Argentina, the argument from Jadue appears valid.

However, Ulloa with just a Chilean grandmother the link is slightly more tenuous. Ulloa is Argentine born to Argentine parents, came through the youth ranks at Comisión de Actividades Infantiles in Chubut and played for San Lorenzo and Arsenal before moving to Spain.

At 28, Ulloa’s hopes of playing for Argentina get slimmer as time goes on and so Chile perhaps offer the best opportunity to play international football and this is a practice which of course is not uncommon in world football.

Zárate could make his La Roja debut as early as the friendlies against Venezuela and Uruguay this month while Ulloa is not expected to feature until 2015. However, if both make their debuts shortly, Chile could end up fielding both Zárate and Ulloa at the Copa America next year.