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Whether clubs should be allowed to loan players out during the current transfer window whilst they are struggling to fulfil fixtures during the current Omicron Covid crisis has become an issue.
It follows the decision by the Premier League to grant Arsenal’s request for their North London derby with Tottenham on Sunday to be postponed on the grounds that they did not have enough fit senior layers.
The Gunners have been hit by a combination of AFCON absentees, injuries and Covid cases, but the request did not go down well with Spurs. They pointed out that, when they had a separate Covid outbreak in their own squad before Christmas, UEFA made them forfeit their Europa Conference League tie with Lille of France.
They are also unhappy that Arsenal have loaned out two players in the last week – Ainsley Maitland-Niels to Roma and Flo Balogun to Middlesbrough, both of whom could have been used to make up the numbers on Sunday if they were available.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.