Tottenham’s Rodon, Reguilon called up for international duty as injury replacements

After the chaos that engulfed Argentina internationals Giovani Lo Celso and Cuti Romero over the past 24 hours, the last thing Tottenham Hotspur probably wants is to have any more players out for international duty. But that’s what they get! Today, Wales and Spain announced that due to injuries they are calling up Joe Rodon and Sergio Reguilon respectively for the third World Cup qualifying match in this international cycle.

The good news is that it’s highly unlikely that we will see anything close to the quarantine-related travel drama that has consumed the narrative around Sunday’s Brazil-Argentina match. Wales hosts Estonia on Wednesday, while Spain travels to Kosovo on the same day. Both Estonia and Kosovo are “amber-listed” countries on the UK’s COVID travel caution list, but I’m pretty sure all of Europe has travel exceptions for athletes. Spain hosted Georgia, a red-listed country, but the Premier League’s international restrictions only applies to matches that are played in red-listed countries.

So sure, fine, whatever. Rodon getting some match fitness would probably be a good thing, though if he’s an injury alternate it’s not clear whether he’d play in this match anyway. Same with Reguilon, actually. They may have been called up just to make up the numbers. Either way it doesn’t sound as though there will be any problems with them returning to the UK and being ready in time for Crystal Palace this coming weekend.