England duo Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood have been criticised for their ‘stupidity’ after breaking coronavirus quarantine protocols during England’s trip to Iceland.
The Manchester City and Manchester United aces have both been kicked out of the Three Lions squad after they were found to have invited two girls back to their hotel room on Sunday.
The FA axed the pair from the squad after discovering they had disregarded the team’s strict coronavirus quarantine rules, which even prevents players from meeting members of their own family during international duty.
Foden and Greenwood only made their England debuts in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Iceland in Reykjavik, and were due to travel with the squad to Denmark for their next clash on Tuesday night.
Instead, they have been flown home, separately, arriving in England on Tuesday morning.
Two girls posted photographs of Greenwood, 18, and Foden, 20, on social media, apparently together with them in their team hotel room.
Both Man City and Man United have issued strongly-worded statements condemning the behaviour of their players.
England boss Gareth Southgate described Foden and Greenwood as ‘naive’, but Jordan was not so polite.
The talkSPORT pundit has insisted there is no excuse, especially having seen the consequences of the actions of England teammates Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish during the early days of lockdown.
Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim White, the former Crystal Palace owner said: “It’s an honour and a privilege to play for your country and it’s reputational, in everything you do you must look, feel, sound, and behave like an England football and elite ambassador.
“In this instance the boys are playing for two of the blue chip clubs in the Premier League and they’ve compromised that.
“You look at these two young players; you’re away with England, you’re representing your country, you’re playing for two of the biggest clubs in world football… You can’t put yourself in the way of this!
“Irrespective of that it was innocent stupidity, we’re living in a time where A: perhaps they shouldn’t be bringing girls back to the hotel anyway, and B: you just can’t now, because of the COVID situation in elite sport!
“You are now moving out of the territory of moral bankruptcy and what they should and shouldn’t do in their private lives, to the area of stupidity.
“Because they’ve seen Kyle Walker, they’ve seen Jack Grealish, they’ve seen Solomon Kalou and they’ve seen Moise Kean be absolutely mullered by the press for doing something that breaches COVID regulations…
“So why do it?!”
Foden and Greenwood were both omitted from England training on Monday and kept away from the rest of the squad as the Football Association investigated the incident.
English football’s governing body later found that the players disregarded both quarantine and behaviour rules, resulting in them being kicked out the squad.
England travelled to Denmark from Iceland on Monday afternoon, but the pair were flown home separately – being pictured in England on Tuesday morning.
It is understood that coronavirus quarantine protocols at the England team hotel were so strict, players were not even allowed to meet their own family members.
But two girls posted photographs of Greenwood, 18, and Foden, 20, on social media, showing them in clear breach of the guidelines set by the FA.
In a press conference on Monday, Southgate addressed the matter
“Unfortunately this morning it was brought to my attention that the two boys have broken the COVID guidelines in terms of our secure bubble,” he began. “We had to decide they couldn’t have interaction with the rest of the team.
“Given the procedures we have to follow they will have to travel home separately.”
LATEST FOOTBALL NEWS
Southgate added: “Nothing has happened in the areas we occupy in the hotel. We are still getting to the depths of all the information because this was only brought to my attention a couple of hours before training, so I’m still getting to grips with the detail.
“What is clear is there is a breach of the COVID-19 guidelines. The whole squad have really followed that to the letter. I’m not going into any more details until I’m aware of everything.
“We’ve spent a long time putting the guidelines in place, and the whole squad have followed that to the letter.
“We’ve had four tests in the period we’ve been together, our staff have done an incredible job of keeping it secure and tight, which was so important both to get the games played and also for the safety and security of our team and staff.
“So in that respect we have no alternative but to do what we are doing.”
Southgate described the young pair as ‘naive’ and said they had both apologised for their conduct.
“I think at the moment I’m trying to take a lot of information in,” he said.
“Obviously they have been naive, we have dealt with it appropriately. I recognise their age but the whole world is dealing with this pandemic.
“I’m a father with children, young adults, I know people get things wrong. I’m not excusing that in this instance.
“These are two boys I don’t know particularly well at the moment so can’t speak in great depth. I have got to try and speak with them later in the appropriate way. They have got responsibilities and they have apologised.”
No comments:
Post a Comment