International teams and European clubs have occasionally been at loggerheads regarding the welfare of football players but the latest development regarding eight Brazilians who ply their trade in the Premier League could set new boundaries.
According to Goal, the Selecao look to prevent eight members of their national team from featuring for their English top-flight clubs this weekend when play resumes in the latest development in an escalating row between Premier League clubs and the Brazilian Football Association.
The Brazilian FA have imposed the "five-day rule", a law which grants international teams the right to ban their footballers for playing for their clubs for five days, with FIFA informing the involved Premier League clubs of this move.
This is seen as revenge from the five-time World Cup winners after several key members of the national team setup were prevented from reporting for international duty due to Brazil being a red-list country.
The affected men are Liverpool trio Alisson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino, Man City duo Ederson and Gabriel Jesus, Leeds winger Raphinha, Chelsea's veteran center-back Thiago Silva, and Man United midfielder Fred.
Despite preventing Richarlison from joining Tite's camp for the international break, Everton have been granted exemption by Brazil due to their strong relationship with the Toffees – the Merseyside outfit allowed the attacker to represent his nation both at Tokyo 2020 and the 2021 Copa America.
Things are made worse for the Red Devils and the Blues as their Brazilian contingent will not be available for their Tuesday UEFA Champions League games against Young Boys and Zenit, respectively. The reason for this is that the five-day rule kicks into effect the day after the final match of the international break. Since the Selecao will be in action on Thursday, the aforementioned eight players will be prohibited from playing starting from September 10 until midnight of September 14 (Tuesday), which just so happens to be when the two clubs kick off their European campaign.
The 2021 Copa America finalists aren't the only South American nations to have invoked the five-day rule in retaliation against Premier League clubs as Mexico, Chile and Paraguay have followed suit, thus ruling out Wolves' Raul Jimenez, Newcastle's Miguel Almiron, and Watford's Francisco Sierralta from action this weekend.
The Premier League are set to fight this decision but it remains to be seen whether the English top-flight clubs can win this battle. One thing is for certain: a solution will be needed as international teams look to put pressure on clubs to release their players for the ongoing World Cup qualifiers.
