Tottenham are set to fine their three South American stars who disobeyed orders NOT to return home on international duty.
The club told Argentina pair Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero, and Colombia defender Davinson Sanchez they were not to travel. But the trio ignored their orders and broke Premier League guidelines by going to play in their countries’ World Cup qualifiers.
And one of those was against Brazil on Sunday, which was halted in incredible fashion in the sixth minute as the Argentine Premier League stars were accused of breaking COVID quarantine rules and falsifying documents to enter Brazil illegally.
Both Lo Celso and Romero started the game, which was eventually suspended by local health officials who stormed the pitch in Sao Paulo.
Lo Celso, Romero and Sanchez are now likely to face hefty financial penalties when they eventually return to Spurs from their unauthorised trips – which will see all three have to quarantine and miss up to three matches following their arrivals back in the UK.
The Premier League told clubs they were not to release players for international matches played in red list countries.
This was due to FIFA not extending its temporary release exception for players required to quarantine on their return from international duty.
Tottenham insists they were powerless to prevent the trio from travelling and will ask the Prem, FIFA and Foreign Office chiefs to implement stronger rules to stop stars from going away on international breaks in the future.
