Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has followed Jurgen Klopp’s stance by insisting it would be “absolutely nonsense” for him to allow any players who would face quarantine rules to leave on international duty.
Under current coronavirus guidelines, arrivals from red-list travel-ban countries are subject to 10 days’ hotel confinement.
Due to the special circumstances, FIFA has given clubs dispensation to prevent players who may be affected by the regulations from joining up with their countries.
Speaking on Tuesday, Liverpool manager Klopp revealed he intends to apply the dispensation, with Hasenhuttl in complete agreement.
“Absolutely no question for me,” he said when asked about players being withheld from call-ups due to quarantine regulations.
“I mean, you cannot think that I send any player anywhere when he has to quarantine when he’s coming back. This is absolutely nonsense. Forget it. Definitely not.
“Because, I mean, there’s business travel if you want… why should I send them there?
“Nobody can say that he’s coming back at least two weeks out and cannot play for us so this is not possible. Definitely not.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could lose talisman Bruno Fernandes for 10 days if he were allowed to meet up with the Portugal squad – something the Manchester United boss admits has not been discussed but “it wouldn’t make sense” to be without a key member of his team.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers believes all Premier League sides will take the same approach when it comes to dealing with the issue.
“I think the clubs are being told it is going to be an individual case for each club,” he said.
“But I think in essence all the clubs will be looking at not wanting to send players, I’m pretty sure, into countries where there is going to be a risk of them coming back and not being able to play and have to go into quarantine in a hotel. I don’t think any club will want that for any of the players.”
Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa feels FIFA and the respective associations should be making the rulings – not leaving the decisions to individual clubs.
“The national associations should take responsibility for this rule, or the clubs are jeopardised,” he said.
“But the authorities, that’s what they are there for – to take on board the consequences of the rules.
“In no way can you leave this in the hands of the clubs because it forces them to look at their own intentions or their own benefits rather than the national associations.
“It would leave them in a very uncomfortable situation. So I insist that (the decision is taken by) the authorities, who have had to make a lot of difficult decisions during the pandemic, they have allowed football to survive, which indicates they have done a very good job.
“This is a decision that the authorities need to make, those who establish the rules.”
Graham Potter, meanwhile, said Brighton were hoping for “a bit more clarity” from FIFA before taking the decision that is in the right interest of both the club and the players.
