Manchester United could prevent Bruno Fernandes from going on international duty with Portugal next month due to issues around quarantine.
The UK government has added countries in South America, Africa and Europe to the quarantine list, meaning people would be required to isolate in a hotel room for 10 days upon their return to the country.
Portugal is one of the countries on the government’s red list, meaning anyone that visits the European country would be required to spend 10 days in isolation after returning to the UK.
Fernandes would normally be part of the Portugal that are due to play Azerbaijan, Serbia and Luxembourg at the back end of March.
But United could block the midfielder’s call-up to Fernando Santos’ squad after FIFA handed clubs powers to decide on behalf of the player.
Were Fernandes to play for Portugal against Azerbaijan on March 24 and travel to face Serbia and Luxembourg on March 27 and 31 respectively he would miss United’s Premier League games against Brighton on April 3 and away to Tottenham on April 10.
Football’s world governing body have announced that they will be able to stop players from travelling to represent their national sides if it will require them to quarantine when they get back, meaning many foreign Premier League stars could miss out on featuring in World Cup qualifiers next month.
As well as Portugal stars like Fernandes and Liverpool’s Diogo Jota, South American countries will be affected by FIFA’s rule change.
The Daily Mail report that Argentina and Brazil are planning to call up all of their Premier League-based players, setting up a potential clash between club and country.
Liverpool have reportedly already decided to block the call-ups of Alisson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina on March 25 and 31 respectively.
Under UK government policy , those who have visited a country on the coronavirus red list in the last 10 days will not be allowed into the UK.
British and Irish nationals, or third country nationals with residence rights in the UK, will be able to enter, but only if they quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.
Countries on the red list currently include South American countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The list also includes the United Arab Emirates, many African countries and Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira.
