Manchester City will have to prepare to play Burnley next week without Ederson and Gabriel Jesus after the Brazil coach insisted that no player would be allowed to leave international duty early.
The Premier League had to do a last-gasp deal last month to ensure that players from South America would be able to represent their clubs after a ban was threatened over their failure to accept call-ups due to the necessity of quarantine upon return from a red-list country.
An agreement was struck over that issue ahead of this latest stretch of internationals with a relaxation of the UK quarantine rules but there has been no consensus reached with FIFA over the decision by the South American football authority CONMEBOL to extend their window for games from nine to 11 days.
As far as City are concerned, it means that Jesus and Ederson could be playing for their country on Friday morning after 3am BST. If another compromise cannot be reached, the chances of them being able to cross more than 5,000 miles and five timezones in the following 36 hours to feature for City against Burnley at 3pm on Saturday are slim to none.
Brazil coach Tite confirmed that letting the Premier League players depart the camp early was not an option.
"There was never that possibility," he said. "They were called up for the three games."
That could give Zack Steffen his first Premier League start of the season, while Pep Guardiola is not short of options on the right wing with Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling among the players that could come in.
