Aston Villa are said to be ‘furious’ at Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni after he made it clear that both Emi Buendia and Emiliano Martinez will be involved in all three international matches over the next fortnight. Premier League clubs and international teams have been at loggerheads over the past week with some players held back from representing their national sides.
Clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea have blocked some of their players travelling with Brazil due to the country being on the UK’s ‘red list’.
But there are still a handful of players potentially set to miss the first few Premier League weekends after the international break.
Villa duo Martinez and Buendia have been allowed to travel with Argentina, although there was a supposed agreement they wouldn’t play against Bolivia on September 10.
The club statement read: “With the permission of the club in accordance with FIFA’s international match call-up rules, Martinez and Buendia have agreed to make themselves available for Argentina’s first two World Cup qualifying matches against Venezuela and Brazil, but will not take part in the third international match against Bolivia.”
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That agreement would still see Buendia and Martinez miss the game against Chelsea on September 11, but they would be back and available to face Everton a week later.
However, Argentina appear to have gone back on their word with Scaloni making it clear that both players are in line to feature in all three matches.
He said: “Regarding the clubs, we never had a refusal. We spoke and we reached a conclusion that they had to come.”
And when asked specifically about Villa, the Argentina boss was vehement in his response.
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It is claimed that an intervention is set to be made with Purslow desperate for the Villa duo to return after the match against Brazil on Sunday.
Argentine may fight to keep Martinez with the squad as he’s their No 1 goalkeeper, while Buendia is more of a role player.
The top four countries in the CONMEBOL qualifying group are guaranteed a spot at next year’s World Cup.
Argentina currently sit second having drawn three of their opening six matches, while Brazil have won every game so far.