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LONDON. — Aston Villa chief executive, Christian Purslow, says the controversy surrounding Brazil and Argentina’s World Cup qualifier will make clubs “incredibly nervous” about releasing their players in future.
The English Premiership club are home to Warriors midfielder, Marvelous Nakamba, who was barred from travelling home, for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
It’s now likely that, after the farce in South America, at the weekend, Nakamba is now unlikely to be released, for next month’s World cup qualifiers against Ghana.
Sunday’s game between Brazil and Argentina was abandoned just after kick-off after Brazil’s health authorities said Argentina’s four UK-based players broke quarantine rules.
Villa allowed Argentine duo Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia to travel to South America for Argentina’s first two matches.
That was despite Premier league clubs deciding not to release players for matches in red-list countries during September’s international break as they would miss several games because of the 10-day isolation period required on their return to the UK.
Martinez and Tottenham duo Giovani lo Celso and Cristian Romero started Sunday’s match against Brazil.
All four Premier League-based stars have now been released back to their clubs.
Purslow feels the situation needs to change before the October matches, when, again, South America will host a triple header of qualifiers as they try to catch up on games postponed due to the pandemic.
“It is a mess,” he said.
“What happened in Brazil on Sunday was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve seen watching football in all my life.
“I don’t quite understand how it happened but it was very regrettable and very damaging to sport, when we had done everything we could to come to an amicable and sensible arrangement with the Argentine FA to enable our players to play in very important games.
“We already have a significant congestion issue with World Cup qualifying games in South America so between now and October I really hope to see a sensible arrangement put in place because nobody wants to see a repeat of what happened.
“That would make any reasonable club executive feel incredibly nervous about releasing players for overseas travel while we are in the midst of this crisis.”
No World Cup matches were played in South America in September 2020 and March 2021 due to the travel restrictions in place, leaving Conmebol to fit four qualifiers into the existing calendar.
FIFA have already sanctioned a two-match international window for January — when the Premier League will have its winter break — and then added two days to the period when clubs should release their players both this month and next.
That move has already created an issue for major European leagues, who face being without key players for this weekend’s fixtures.
Meanwhile, Martinez has defended his decision to fly home for the World Cup qualifiers, despite the drama in Brazil.
“It’s a shame because we were confident, the team was doing well. We did not understand anything.
“We stayed for half an hour to see if we would go out to play or warm up again, and after 30 or 40 minutes They told us we had to go.
“The four from England decided to go because we love the shirt.
“No matter how much the Premier League (players) didn’t want to come, we decided we were going anyway. Because after the Copa America, everyone wanted to be there.
“It’s something beautiful and we must live with the consequences. On a personal level I needed to play these games.”
Sky Sports News have revealed that Martinez and Buendia will now fly to Croatia rather than the UK, so they can continue training before returning to England for their club, and at the Ezeiza airport in Argentina, Martinez was asked about last night’s events.
A trip straight back to the UK from South America would have meant 10 days in government hotel quarantine but stopping off for that period in a green list country means they can train and then travel back to the UK without quarantining.
Argentina agreed with Villa, Martinez and Buendia were available for selection for the first two matches of the international break against Venezuela and Brazil.
However, the club came to a compromise with their South American stars, that they would not take part in the third qualifier against Bolivia in the early hours of Friday morning UK time.
This would allow both Martinez and Buendia to both be available to play Villa’s match against Everton on Saturday, September 18, and only miss one Premier League game, against Chelsea this Saturday. — BBC Sport/Birmingham Mail/Sports Reporter
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