Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, a fundamental piece of the Argentina National Team that won the Copa America this past summer, confirmed on Twitter that he’d be heading to South America for the FIFA World Cup Qualifying fixtures this international break.
This past week, various leagues across Europe banded together to withhold their players from heading into what the United Kingdom calls the red list.
Despite the refusal from the Premier League to give up the players for these qualifying fixtures in South America, Martínez plans to go and represent Argentina.
La Albiceleste currently sits in second place but faces some threat from the nations below them, so they’ll use these three upcoming fixtures to pad their lead. Marca also reports that another player heading to Argentina from the Premier League is Martínez’s teammate on Aston Villa Emiliano Buendía.
If these two are the first from the leagues that want to withhold their players, then it will be interesting to see what other players decide to do, whether it remains with their club or head to South America.