Covid guidelines could affect upcoming Premier League season

Both Florian Lejeune and Miguel Almiron are looking at potentially missing some time in Newcastle United’s preseason after a trip to Spain could leave them out of their club’s side. The UK has recently changed its guidelines to having anyone returning to the UK from Spain quarantine for two weeks.

This could have a serious effect on multiple players returning from their breaks where many decided to travel as they only got a fleeting time away from the game before having to return. But that’s not the concern here.

The transfer market is full of players moving in and out of countries. Spanish players moving to England, or French players moving to Italy. The summer transfer window will be brief, and many clubs will have to move quickly, but this will also likely mean that any player bought from a club will have to quarantine for weeks before even being able to step on the pitch, let alone play a match.

If Newcastle United is looking at dipping into the international transfer market, they will definitely want to do so sooner rather than later if these guidelines remain in place upon the return of the Premier League in September. We don’t yet know if the UK will relax the guidelines on the Premier League itself, however, it is unlikely that the UK government would make such a drastic move to appease the League.

So let’s just hope Lee Charnley gets a move on, or we’re purely looking at domestically based players, because two weeks of waiting to get a guy on the pitch is a bit too long for a club that needs to drastically improve its squad.