Liverpool could be set to miss the availability of key trio Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Bobby Firmino in October should Brazil be granted an exemption to health guidance issued by the UK government (under conditions).
According to ESPN Brasil (via Sport Witness), the Brazilian Football Confederation are proposing implementing certain procedures, including the maintenance of a bubble, to allow international stars to travel safely.
Under the current quarantine rules, playing in Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers in a month’s time would mean that the affected players would likely be forced to isolate for a ten-day period, potentially ruling them out against Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Watford.
It’s not an eventuality we can see Jurgen Klopp and the club accepting without some level of protestation – and rightly so.
Even if we were set to come up against mainly objectively weaker sides, there’s no reason why Liverpool should be made to suffer, particularly whilst we continue to pay the player’s wages.
The reported measures would go some way in improving player safety, which we certainly appreciate, however, losing the players in question could very well undermine our Champions League prospects (not to mention our domestic hopes).
You can catch the upcoming international fixture list and Liverpool’s affected ties below:
Venezuela v Brazil – 7th October
Colombia v Brazil – 10th October
Brazil v Uruguay – 14th October
Watford v Liverpool (PL) – 16th October
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool (UCL) – 19th October
Manchester United v Liverpool (PL) – 24th October