Gillingham are under no obligation to allow defender Elkan Baggott to play international football at the end of December.

Baggott is an Indonesian international - a big star in the country - and is expected to be picked to play in the AFF Championships which starts next month.

The 10-team championship is a biannual event played by countries in southeast Asia but as Gills manager Neil Harris explained, it will be down to the clubs and Baggott himself as to whether he will be released to play.

Baggott - on loan from Ipswich Town - has been a regular starter for the Gills and he would miss some crucial games if he travels to take part in the 2022 event.

Harris said: “There are no UEFA/FIFA windows coming up until March, although obviously we have the World Cup at the moment.

“Elkan is our player, if he gets called up by his national team then discussions will always be had with him and Ipswich, as his parent club, and we are massively respectful of that.

“We are aware of the south Asia tournament over the Christmas and New Year period and discussions will be had with Ipswich and Elkan but ultimately clubs don’t have to release players.”

Indonesia are due to play group games against Cambodia on December 23 and then Brunei (December 26), Thailand (December 29) and Philippines (January 2). The tournament concludes with a final in mid-January after the knockout stage.

Baggott recently missed a Gillingham match to play in two friendly games for Indonesia against Curacao. He’s unlikely to be involved in next week’s training camp for the national side.

Reports in Asia suggest that national coach Shin Tae-yong has made a personal plea with Gillingham's management to let the player go, having been at Crawley on Tuesday night. Baggott is the only Indonesian international playing in the English league.

The 20-year-old defender was an unused substitute for Gillingham in their midweek match at Crawley as Harris felt the player needed a break, having started the majority of games for the club this season.

Harris said: “Elkan didn’t play because I thought he looked a bit drained in a couple of games before that, he is only 20 and has played a lot of football.

“What we are doing at the moment is mentally draining on everybody, playing Saturday Tuesday Saturday Tuesday without a break, we have played a lot of cup football, a lot less rest than everyone else and we can’t fit a Kent Senior Cup game at Tonbridge into the schedule because the youth team are in FA Youth Cup (this coming Monday) and we are playing every Tuesday.

“Elkan has played a hell of a lot of football and even when he came out (of the side) for two games he played two international games while he was away so he has not had a break.

“I thought maybe it needed freshening up a bit, I took him out for that purpose, not for anything else, not because he played badly, he hasn’t, he has been one of our better performers.”

*A Gillingham youth side, made up predominantly of under-16s, will be playing Dennis Wise’s Garuda Select international side - a team made up of youth players from Indonesia who play in England and Italy - at Chatham Town’s Bauvill Stadium on Tuesday, with a 1pm kick off. Supporters are welcome.