Inter are almost certainly going to bid farewell to their international players for the next fortnight, according to a leading Italian journalist.
A report in Gazzetta dello Sport this morning revealed Milan’s local health authority (ATS) was likely to release Romelu Lukaku and co. after requests from four federations (Croatia, Denmark, Belgium and Slovakia) to have their players – despite last week’s COVID-19 outbreak at the club.
Four Inter players – Danilo D’Ambrosio, Samir Handanovic, Stefan de Vrij and Matias Vecino – tested positive for the virus last week, which led ATS to impose a 14-day quarantine and ban anyone from going off for international duty.
As explained now by FcInter1908.it’s editor Daniele Mari, however, the issue is less whether the players are released – which now seems certain – but whether they will be allowed to take part in matches.
Milan’s ATS specified last week that Inter’s players were only permitted to leave their homes to take part in training sessions, which means Lukaku, Christian Eriksen, Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic and Milan Skriniar technically would not be allowed to play in their international fixtures, even if they travelled home.
Inter’s players would certainly not be allowed to travel to a third country as per ATS’s instructions, which would be necessary if they were to take part in an away match with their country.
The federations in question have no interest in bringing their players back just to have them available for training sessions, but to play them in games they would have to break the ATS rules.
However, it is ‘very unlikely’ the ATS rules would carry any weight in other countries, meaning Lukaku, Eriksen, Brozovic, Perisic and Skriniar are probably going to travel and play as they would usually.
The one condition for all of this to be possible, naturally, is that Inter do not report any further cases of COVID-19 today, after a fresh round of testing yesterday.
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