{"id":601568,"date":"2021-09-11T05:54:15","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T09:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=601568"},"modified":"2021-09-11T05:54:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-11T09:54:15","slug":"fifa-u-turn-on-banning-premier-league-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/09\/11\/fifa-u-turn-on-banning-premier-league-players\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA U-Turn on Banning Premier League Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week FIFA invoked Article 5<\/a> after a request from the Brazilian Football Confederation. This was after Premier League clubs unanimously decided not to release players for international duty to countries on the government\u2019s red list.<\/p>\n

The FA and Premier League have come to an agreement with FIFA to change their decision. Unfortunately, they made the decision with little over 12 hours before the first game this weekend.<\/p>\n

Liverpool<\/a> would\u2019ve been without Alisson and Fabinho for their trip to Leeds, with Roberto Firmino out injured already. Their opponents, Leeds United would have been missing Raphinha. Ederson and Gabriel Jesus would have been sidelined for Manchester City, with city rivals Manchester United missing Fred. Chelsea would have had to cope without Thiago Silva, while Miguel Almiron wouldn\u2019t have been available to Steve Bruce at Newcastle. Elsewhere Wolves would have had no Raul Jimenez and Watford\u2019s Francisco Sierrelta wouldn\u2019t have been available for selection.<\/p>\n

Fifa U-Turn on Banning Premier League Players<\/h2>\n

Manager Reaction<\/h3>\n

Although common sense eventually prevailed, it is late in the day to make the decision. Regardless of the ruling, it had been understood that Jurgen Klopp was prepared to select Alisson and Fabinho. He stated in his press conference<\/a>: \u201cI can say what I know. I don\u2019t know in the moment. We will see, there are meetings going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn\u2019t hold back<\/a>: \u201cI think it\u2019s a lose, lose, lose situation for everyone. National teams, players, clubs. It\u2019s been a farce\u2026 Common sense might not be so common anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola was also \u2018unclear<\/a>\u2019 if he\u2019d be able to play his Brazilians earlier. The news will come as a relief to the Spaniard who was looking at playing his third choice \u2018keeper at the weekend as Zack Steffen is unavailable after a positive Covid test.<\/p>\n

The decision is of an added benefit to Chelsea and Manchester United. They kick-off their Champions League campaigns on Tuesday, and would have been without Thiago Silva and Fred respectively for those games as well.<\/p>\n

Players Still Have to Quarantine<\/h3>\n

Aston Villa will still be without Argentinian pair Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez as they travelled to join up with their national team. Martinez played in the game that was abandoned when health officials in Brazil stormed the pitch<\/a>. They claimed the English based Argentinians didn\u2019t adhere to the quarantine rules.<\/p>\n

Dean Smith felt it was a \u2018no-win\u2019<\/a> situation for him, not wanting to send the pair as he didn\u2019t want them to miss crucial games, but also claiming he didn\u2019t think he could\u2019ve legally banned his players from travelling.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>