TIMOTHY WEAH may miss the Scottish Cup final if Celtic make it... because he could be a key member of the USA Under 20s World Cup squad.
And the club v country showdown is an exact copy of last year when the Hoops faced a similar scenario with loan star Patrick Roberts.
The PSG kid has netted four goals for Celtic in just three starts, although he has also made 11 appearances from the bench.
USA international Weah was downgraded to the USA Under 23 squad last month for a training camp, but is also eligible to play for his country in the Under 20s World Cup in Poland.
But America's first game will be on May 24 against Ukraine in Bielsko-Biala and they will be in a 10-day training camp before it.
That could rule Weah out of the Scottish Cup final on May 25 if Celtic were to defeat Aberdeen in Sunday's semi-final.
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USA Under 20s manager Tab Ramos has already stated he wants to include Weah in his squad for the finals and is hoping manager Greg Berhalter gives him the go-ahead to include him for Poland rather than with the full team who are playing in the Gold Cup later in June.
Ramos said: "With Tim, that's a conversation that still needs to be had a little bit closer to the World Cup. That's internal, between me, our head coach Greg Berhalter and our general manager Earnie Stewart.
"And they would indicate to me what the plans would be for Tim and two other players - Josh Sargent and Tyler Adams who have also both played for the full team.
"Obviously they would certainly be welcome. At the moment, I'm preparing the players who I know I have available.
"My hope is to have the squad together for at least 10 days before the World Cup, but he reality is, if it's a really important player to the team and I have to wait until after that weekend of the May 19th, then I'll likely to decide that it's important for the team to wait that long to get a player in."
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It's the second year in a row Celtic have become embroiled in a potentially messy club v country row.
Last year, on loan Manchester City winger Roberts chose to opt out of the England squad for the Under 20s World Cup tournament in South Korea so he could play for Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final against Motherwell.
Despite that sacrifice, he was an unused sub at Hampden as Brendan Rodgers' side cruised to a 2-0 win.
Celtic would have to hold talks with US Soccer and parent club PSG if Weah was included in the Under 20s World Cup squad since FIFA cannot force clubs to release players for the competition.
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