As revealed by Paul Joyce of The Times, Premier League clubs have been blocked from playing their Brazilian players between the 10-14 September. The news comes after the Brazilian FA asked FIFA to enforce rules to prevent eight players from the five different clubs from playing in what seems like an eye for an eye.
The likes of Alisson Becker and Fabinho will be unable to play for Liverpool against Leeds United, who will be without Raphinha. Not because they travelled to a red zone, but because Liverpool and Leeds prevented them from doing so. They were unable to play for Brazil, so Brazil have seemingly made sure they can’t play for their clubs, either. The situation helps no one, except for certain egos.
The fact is, the whole situation should have been avoided, but it wasn’t and now clubs have found themselves in direct rivalry with the Brazilian FA.
Premier League Clubs Blocked From Playing Stars Thanks to Brazilian FA
One Exception Made
Whilst Liverpool and others will be without key players, Everton will be allowed to pick Richarlison thanks to their good relationship with Brazil. That alone highlights the power in which Brazil have been given, or the power of their persuasion when speaking to FIFA. The fact they can pick and choose who the rule applies to, when every club is guilty of the same thing, blunts the knife they have attempted to wedge into clubs, that bit more.
Expect this situation to drag on, and include more and more drama. Premier League clubs and managers will not be happy with it, and rightly so. They prevented their players from entering the red zone to play in a game which was stormed by the police anyway, and, now, they have been punished.
If fans didn’t hate the international break before, they’ll despise it more than ever by now.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
