Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has been speaking on his latest Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham podcast to discuss matters following the summer transfer window.
Discussing matters away from the summer spending, Gold discussed the situation regarding the two Argentinian internationals, Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero.
Are you frustrated by Lo Celso & Romero's decision?
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The Spurs duo had been called up for their international games, but Premier League clubs decided players should won’t be released to join up with their national teams if they were on the United Kingdom’s red list for travel.
However, the pair decided to defy the league’s decision and travelled with Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez to play in their World Cup qualifiers.
Speaking about discussions that took place with the north London club and the Argentine duo, Gold had the following to say on when Spurs can expect to see the pair return.
“I’m told that Spurs have done a deal with the players that they won’t play – reverse of what [Joe] Rodon’s would have been – they won’t play in the third [international] game, which means that they can start their isolation quicker.
“Reports in Argentina suggest that Lo Celso and Romero will go with other Argentinian players in the Premier League to do like a training camp in one of the Croatian islands, which means that they don’t then have to come back to the UK and go into a government-registered hotel which will have pretty much little to no fitness opportunities whatsoever.”
TIF Thoughts on the pair’s decision…
We are not surprised that the two players were desperate to play for the nation given they are fighting for their spot in next winter’s World Cup in Qatar.
However, from a Tottenham point of view, it must be incredibly frustrating, as despite this reported agreement, there is the chance those players will be unavailable to play in some of their upcoming Premier League games if they test positive whilst away on international duty.
Lo Celso is yet to hit any kind of form at Tottenham, while Romero has just arrived at the club, so we think it is unlikely Nuno Espirito Santo will be impressed by their decisions to leave against the league’s advice.
In other news: ‘What I’m hearing’ – Mike McGrath reveals late transfer news at Spurs