Tottenham’s Romero, Lo Celso called up for Argentina internationals

Because the universe loves nothing better than to kick Tottenham Hotspur when its down, today Argentina released its roster for the upcoming international break the week of October 4. You guessed it — La Albaceleste has called up both Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso for CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.

Oh joy!

Once again, Argentina play three matches that week, all World Cup qualifiers: at Paraguy on Thurs. October 7, home to Uruguay on Sun. October 10, and home to Peru on Thurs. October 14.

Before you ask, yes, all four countries including Argentina are on the UK’s “red list” of restricted travel countries due to COVID-19. However, there’s good news. After what happened to Spurs (and to Aston Villa) during the last international break, UEFA relaxed COVID restrictions for footballers traveling from red-listed countries, and they now require only a five day isolation that can be completed at their clubs’ facilities.

For Romero and Lo Celso, assuming they stay for all three matches this time (and considering the third match is vs. Peru that seems like a distinct possibility) that means the earliest they could return home is on October 15. Add in five days of isolation and they’d be out by October 20 or 21.

As Pardeep wrote earlier this month, that means they’ll definitely miss Spurs’ trip to Newcastle on August 17, and probably the Europa Conference League match at Vitesse on October 21, but would be available for the match at West Ham on October 24. And if Davinson Sanchez, Emerson Royal, or Lucas Moura get called up for Colombia or Brazil respectively, they’ll also be in a similar boat.

Thus far we haven’t been given any indication that they will not report for international duty as expected. Who’s ready to go through this whole thing all over again? At least they won’t need to go back to Croatia.