As Coronavirus sweeps across Europe, causing sport to come to a standstill, all sorts of logistical issues have cropped up as a result.
Chief among them is when the leagues around the world will be completed, with UEFA’s aim to get them done with by June 30th looking like a pipe dream at this moment in time.
We covered how this could affect Hakim Ziyech’s move to Chelsea already, and now Watford may find themselves caught up in a similar situation.
Their striker Luis Suárez is currently on loan at Spanish side Real Zaragoza until the end of the season.
He’s proven to be a huge hit in Spain, scoring 17 goals in 30 games so far this season and helping Zaragoza push for promotion to La Liga.
However, the loan deal only lasts until June 30th, according to Heraldo, and as such, if the season was to run beyond that, he would ‘legally’ have to return to Watford.
That would be a significant issue for Zaragoza, who could ‘seriously suffer’ if they were to lose their current top goalscorer.
They are already working on finding a solution to the issue, ‘gathering information on possible contractual extensions supported by the legal framework’.
They hope that they can somehow find an agreement with Watford to extend Suárez’s deal until the season is over, although they will be forced to ‘follow guidelines set by the organisations.’
They are then left waiting, like the rest of us, to see what UEFA and the respective federation can cook up to try and resolve the matter, although that will, of course, be dependant on how the ongoing situation with COVID-19 develops.
Should it continue to worsen, loan deals and contracts will be the least of either Watford or Zaragoza’s concerns.
