Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero left the Argentina squad on Monday so they could travel to Croatia and begin the process of returning to Tottenham.
Had they travelled directly from South America to the United Kingdom then they would have been forced to go through hotel quarantine. Croatia was selected as a compromise country because they’re allowing travel from South America and people can travel from there to the UK without quarantine.
Lo Celso and Romero will now keep fit in Croatia, and Tottenham will hope to have them available as soon as possible.
There’s been reports in the English media about club sanctions for the pair, with the suggestion being that Spurs are set to fine them for travelling for international duty.
Romero’s agent has been speaking about the situation, and is quoted by Gianluca Di Marzio as saying: “I don’t know if they can be sanctioned: they are players, I am not saying that there must be a preferential attitude towards them for a situation that we have all been experiencing in the last two years, but there is a different protocol.
“It was a compromise between clubs and national teams in order not to miss too many matches. England has quite important constraints that harm both the player and the club. I don’t think there will be any fines and Tottenham understand the situation. I hope that the Premier League also understands that it is very difficult for a player not to respond to the call-up of his national team, especially after he has won the Copa América, and with these being the first games open to the public.”
Tottenham face a difficult situation, they won’t want to upset their own players but there’s the prospect of losing them again for international breaks in October and November. It’s already been insisted in Brazil that their Premier League players will be called up this time, and it’s unlikely Argentina will take a different path.
