Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Alessandro Busti, Liam Millar and now Ballou Tabla. The youth movement within the Canadian men’s national team program continues to get more impressive by the minute as John Herdman prepares the team for 2022 World Cup qualifying.

It was announced today by Canada Soccer that Tabla, previously thought to be leaning towards the Ivory Coast internationally, has rejoined the Canadian men’s national team fold.

The 19-year-old plays as a winger and originally came up through the Montreal Impact academy, appearing in 45 matches with the senior team and scoring eight times. Earlier this year he was transferred to FC Barcelona’s B team.

Tabla has represented Canada at the U17 and U20 level, but declined recent call-ups to the youth level. He had stated publicly that he wanted to see if there was interest from his birth nation, Ivory Coast.

However, Canada Soccer has been reaching out to the player in recent months. It is believed that the inclusion of Mauro Biello, who is Tabla’s former coach with the Impact, as an assistant coach with the national team has helped immensely.

While nothing has been made official, there is a good chance Tabla suits up for Canada in their October 16 Concacaf Nations League qualifier against Dominica at BMO Field.