Guinea coach Didier Six has unveiled details of his talks with Liverpool after the Premier League club agreed to release Naby Keita for one of two upcoming African Nations Cup qualifiers.
Guinea captain Keita was sacked to play Group A leaders in Mali in Conakry on March 24, with Guinea currently two points behind Mohamed Magassouba in second place.
However, under the terms of an agreement with Liverpool the 26-year-old will return to Merseyside and miss the trip to Namibia the following weekend, ensuring he will not miss any games for the Reds due to coronavirus quarantine restrictions.
What did Sia say?
“We have negotiated with Liverpool, which is one of the biggest clubs in the world, to have Naby Keita for the first game,” Six told AFP.
“After that we put it on the plane immediately and it will be available for the [Premier League] resume after seven days alone, and can train.
“I made a suggestion to the clubs so that we can be as strong as possible for the first game.
“It takes diplomacy, no need to turn around.”
The bigger picture
The pandemic of coronavirus, and the resulting quarantine regulations, have caused chaos for international managers as they try to gather their squadrons from all over the world.
The governing body FIFA has said that clubs do not have to release players for international duty if they are without them after coronavirus protocols.
Two rounds of South American candidates have been postponed for this reason, with countries such as Argentina and Brazil on the UK’s restricted travel list, which insists that travelers from the countries must have a long period of loneliness complete before receiving permission to circulate.
Namibia is also on the limited travel list, meaning Keita would have to be quarantined for 10 days when he returned to the UK if he had been playing in that game.
That would be ruled out for the Premier League trip to Arsenal on April 4 and the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final three days later. However, the agreement with Guinea means that the midfielder will return home and be available when the Reds return to action.