Manchester United's Edinson Cavani will miss September's World Cup Qualifiers; Uruguay on British government's 'red list'; Cavani would have had to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days on his return; Spurs pair Lo Celso and Romero released to play for Argentina
Monday 30 August 2021 15:32, UK
Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani's Uruguay call-up for next month's World Cup Qualifiers has been cancelled.
The Premier League announced last week that its clubs would not release players for international duty which involved travel to countries covered by the British Government's 'red list' coronavirus restrictions.
Uruguay is on that list, which would mean Cavani being required to quarantine in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days on his return to the UK.
However, the Uruguayan federation confirmed on Sunday that Cavani would no longer be called up for the matches against Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
Aston Villa announced on Sunday that their Argentina call-ups - Emi Martinez and Emi Buendia - would be released for that country's first two qualifiers in the September break but would miss the last one against Bolivia.
Under that arrangement, the club said, the players would only miss the Premier League game against Chelsea on September 11.
Tottenham have now followed Villa's lead in agreeing to allow their Argentinian players the chance to join up with their country during this international break - despite the fact they will be unavailable for at least one Premier League game as a result.
Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero will be available to play in the first two games of their international triple header - they now have their club's permission to play against Venezuela on Friday, and then in the huge World Cup Qualifier against Brazil this Sunday.
To try to minimise the impact on domestic games, they will then fly back to England before the final international against Bolivia.
The Spurs pair will still have to quarantine upon arrival back in the UK in a government-chosen hotel. The players will be confined to their rooms, and unable to do any meaningful training until their quarantine period is completed.
The fear is that once released, they will be some distance away from match fitness.
It is understood developments at Spurs and Villa have not altered Liverpool's position on the matter. Brazilian trio Alisson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino will therefore not be released, and nor will Egypt forward Mohamed Salah.
LaLiga meanwhile is requesting the postponement of the Sevilla vs Barcelona and Villarreal vs Alaves matches due to be played on September 11 after the Court of Arbitration rejected its request to set aside the extension of September's South American international break.
The request to postpone those matches - and modify kick-off times of other games - has gone to the Spanish football federation's competitions committee.
LaLiga said FIFA's decision to extend the window - which was taken after World Cup qualifying matches due to be played in March were called off due to coronavirus - was "a clear declaration of intent to infringe on the autonomy of domestic leagues, in an abuse of rights".
