NEWCASTLE UNITED are working with their fellow Premier League clubs in an attempt to reverse a FIFA ruling banning Miguel Almiron from playing in Saturday’s game at Manchester United.
The Magpies’ opponents will be without their Brazilian midfielder Fred as a result of the FIFA regulation, which has been triggered by a number of South American footballing authorities after Premier League players were prevented from travelling to their homelands for international duty this week.
Almiron did not travel to Paraguay at the start of the week after the Premier League opted to prevent players from competing in international matches that would have involved them having to travel to countries that feature on the red list of the Government’s coronavirus travel regulations.
Had Almiron been involved in Paraguay’s World Cup qualifying triple-header against Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, he would have had to quarantine for ten days on his return to Britain.
Instead, he has remained in the North East and continued to train at Newcastle’s Little Benton base, but the Paraguayan FA contacted FIFA and instructed the world governing body to trigger the ruling that enables them to issue a worldwide five-day ban to any player failing to report for international duty.
Newcastle are understood to have been informed that the ban is now in place, with seven other Premier League clubs set to be without players this weekend.
As well as banning Fred, Brazil have also issued suspensions against Liverpool trio Roberto Firmino, Fabino and Allison, Manchester City pair Ederson and Gabriel Jesus, Chelsea defender Thiago Silva and Leeds forward Raphinha.
They have not, however, issued a ban against Richarlison, acknowledging Everton’s compliance in releasing the forward the Olympics earlier this summer.
Paraguay have banned Almiron, with Mexico issuing similar action against Wolves forward Raul Jimenez and Chile blocking Francisco Sierralta from playing for Watford.
The Premier League is working with the clubs affected, and discussions with FIFA remain ongoing in an attempt to get the various suspensions overturned.
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