Alfredo Morelos is, thankfully, back in Scotland, however, we will have to wait until we see him in Light Blue given the country’s current Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The exemptions afforded to elite sport can cause confusion – see Shane Duffy not having to isolate despite being on a commercial flight to and from London last season – but in the case of El Bufalo, it would appear that we don’t have much choice other than to sit and wait for his return, as reported by The Daily Record:
“The rules mean anyone returning from either South American nation (Brazil and Colombia) to Scotland must book in for a 10-day self-isolation stint at a quarantine hotel.
“Footballers can apply for Elite Sports Exemption which allows them to travel abroad for major competitions without having to lock themselves away on the way back.
“However, there are no automatic exceptions available for those returning from red-list destinations.
“St Johnstone have been given the green light to host likely Europa Conference League opponents Galatasaray and travel to red-listed Turkey for the second leg next month despite initial fears the Perth club would be forced to stage the home clash on neutral territory.
“That came after the Scottish Government stepped in to OK the Turks’ travel plans – but only after placing strict testing requirements on the Istanbul giants as well as a 48-hour limit on how long they can spend in Scotland.”
St Johnstone’s situation could be used as an argument to get him released from quarantine earlier but the only issue is that he won’t have been undertaking any testing whilst he was on holiday in his homeland, we’ve already seen Fashion Sakala have to wait two weeks before he could join up with his new team-mates but, thankfully, he already looks like he is up to speed.
Will Alfredo Morelos be sold this summer?
Yes
No
The biggest concern is that Morelos will miss the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers and that we will go into those with just Cedric Itten and Sakala as front line forwards, Jermain Defoe likely to take up a place on the bench – Ryan Kent, Scott Wright and Ianis Hagi are, of course, more than capable of providing support in attacking areas though.
Itten has looked sharp in pre-season and Sakala was hugely impressive against Real Madrid but with Livingston up first, we could get an idea of what Steven Gerrard is planning for when our biggest game in a decade comes around without his two first-choice strikers available.