Today the British Government has announced that it has imposed a ban on travel from South American destinations, Portugal, Panama and Cape Verde to prevent the spread of the new variant of COVID-19. The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil, that may have spread to countries with strong travel links to Brazil.
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The Department for Transport has confirmed that the travel ban on the above countries does not currently include an exemption for elite sportsmen and women, which poses severe issues for British clubs in the transfer market.
Assistant News Editor for Sky Sports News Lyall Thomas uploaded a Tweet in which he outlined a prime example of the impact that will be felt in this January window. Thomas stated “Brighton have been working on a deal for Moises Caicedo from Ecuador.”
Re: the #TransferWindow, it obviously brings a major new obstacle to signing any players from these countries this month. #Brighton, for example, have been working on a deal for Moises Caicedo from Ecuador #BHAFC
— Lyall Thomas (@SkySportsLyall) January 14, 2021
In that simple sentence the media man has just revealed the first known club to be impacted by the decision. Indeed, that deal is now certainly off until at least the summer. Whilst, many more British outfits will need to reshape their transfer plans with the regions completely off limits for the foreseeable future.
