Nuno: Spurs’ quartet free to play following international matches

Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has confirmed his quartet of South American international players will be available to play upon their return to England.

Spurs signed off ahead of the latest international break with an important 2-1 win over Aston Villa, which stopped the rot of three successive defeats.

Argentinian pair Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian

Romero, Colombian Davinson Sanchez and Brazil’s Emerson Royal will now head to red-list countries in South America for World Cup qualifiers.

The Government announced that players would be allowed to train and play upon their return while isolating at club facilities, providing they were fully jabbed.

Santo, who lost Lo Celso, Romero and Sanchez for 10 days after the last international break, confirmed that would not happen again.

“I can update, they will go and they will return and they will return on different situations,” he said.

“They will have to isolate, but we are fortunate enough to have the Lodge and work normally with the team.”

In a statement, FIFA welcomed the decision, saying: “We have worked closely with the UK government, Football Association and Premier League to find a reasonable solution, in the interests of everyone, and we believe this is a much more desirable solution to the situation that players faced in September.”

The statement added: “We acknowledge this decision does not help every player and we remain committed to further improving the situation for upcoming windows and joining discussions to explain more about the many measures we are puttinginplacetoreducethe risks of Covid transmission into the community as a result of player travel.

“We encourage Covid-19 vaccinations and endorse the World Health Organization’s position: safe, fair, and equitable access is critical in all countries. Players should not receive priority access to vaccines.”

Tottenham’s players will head away in good spirits after an impressive win over Villa, putting a run of three poor results to bed.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s opener was cancelled out by Ollie Watkins in the second half before Matt Targett’s own goal gave Spurs the three points.