Top 5 Football players who are unvaccinated and missing their club’s pre-season
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Dozens of Premier League stars are believed to be unvaccinated against Covid and it’s claimed some top European clubs are reluctant to sign them this summer as a result.
It’s believed a number of footballers in England have refused to take the Covid vaccine to date. While this will not have an impact on the Premier League, it may stop players from travelling abroad. Various countries, such as the US, require visitors to be vaccinated. Here are the top 5 players who are currently unvaccinated and possibly missing their club’s preseason action:
5. Wilfried Zaha – Crystal Palace (Basically the entire first-team squad)
Crystal Palace have sent a depleted squad on their pre-season tour with a number of un-jabbed players denied entry into Singapore. Foreign visitors to Singapore must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while Australia, where the south Londoners travel to face Manchester United and Leeds United, have only just dropped their entry requirements.
Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Michael Olise are all staying in south London for a friendly with QPR and training at the club’s base, as are Cheikhou Kouyate, Will Hughes and Christian Benteke.
Addressing those absent from the travelling squad, Palace said: “Some of these players are not currently fit and therefore will not travel on tour, whilst some did not meet the entry requirements for Singapore or Australia when travel arrangements were made.”
4. Ilkay Gundogan – Manchester City
Ilkay Gundogan will miss Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the United States because he has only received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Gundogan, who caught Covid-19 in September 2020, had his first jab last summer and was deemed fully vaccinated in his native Germany due to previous infection.
Foreign visitors entering the United States, however, are required to have had two doses of vaccine and Gundogan had planned to get a second jab in order to travel there only to contract the disease again last month. Doctors advised him to wait three months after recovering from the virus before proceeding.
3. Phil Foden – Manchester City
Manchester City have not included Phil Foden, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan in the travelling squad for their pre-season tour of the United States. The Premier League champions will face Club America and Bayern Munich while in the US but will have to face them without three key players.
City have not confirmed why the trio aren’t with the first team but there are suggestions that it’s due to their Covid-19 vaccination status. Foden, Stones and Gundogan have been ordered to join the Under-23 squad for their pre-season preparations in Europe
2. Ruben Loftus-Cheek – Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel has admitted the absence of Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States because of their Covid vaccination status is “far from ideal” as they prepare for the new Premier League campaign. Loftus-Cheek hasn’t travelled with the squad when they flew out to Los Angeles last weekend because entry rules for the US say all foreign visitors over 18 must be double-vaccinated.
Tuchel said at the time he did not know how many of his players had been vaccinated but that he would not force them to have the injections. However, the Chelsea manager has acknowledged that the absence of Loftus-Cheek has left a big hole in his preparation plans.
1. N’Golo Kante – Chelsea
N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek started for Chelsea in a 4-2 pre-season friendly win against National League side Boreham Wood on Friday evening. The midfield duo remained in England as they cannot enter the United States for the Blues’ pre-season tour due to their Covid-19 vaccination status.
While it is unclear whether the two players are unvaccinated or had received only one dose, both Kanté and Loftus-Cheek tested positive for Covid-19 at the start of last season. Kante and Loftus-Cheek will miss matches against Club America, Charlotte FC and Arsenal, but will be eligible to take on Udinese in Italy on July 29.
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Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)