Winston Reid is a doubtful starter for David Moyes’ first match in charge against Watford on Sunday.
But the central defender is not injured, instead he has to appear in the New Zealand World Cup play-off against Peru in Lima on Wednesday.
And that means he cannot make it back to London before Saturday morning, just over 24 hours before Moyes takes charge the game at Vicarage Road.
He will make will make an immediate dash to Rush Green when he lands where he will meet his new manager before being assessed by the medical staff.
Moyes will be desperate for Reid to be available, particularly with Jose Fonte unavailable until 2018 with a foot injury.
His absence would be likely to see Declan Rice partnering either Angelo Ogbonna or Cheik Kouyate at the heart of the defence.
Moyes probably needs all the experience he an gather for a crucial game which will see the Hornets down on five first teamers through injury and suspension with doubts over five more.
Fake news. Can’t get back until Saturday? Is he Swimming? If he plays Wed night he could fly out of Lima Thurs lunchtime (local times) via Amsterdam, arriving 1pm Friday in London
The team are allowed to keep the players upto 24 hours after the game for a debrief I think Sparrow, as it is a huge match not a friendly I imagine they will.
We have Oggy, Ginge and Rice aswell as Kouyate all of whom can do a job at CB, coming back from Peru after having flown to NZ then Peru, then back there is every chance he will have severe jetlag anyway.
Yeah I don’t think the game is actually played until Thursday morning our time (1am? 3am).
C’mon hes only gotta play football for a 90 mins on sunday and its only at watford. Lots of people fly back home and go straight to work whats the difference, except another example of modern day football being overprotective.
And its not as if he will be flying economy 🙂
Having flown both ways around the World to Australia and NZ I can tell you there is a different effect on the body when you go from NZ via the Americas, can’t tell you why but there just is.
I just shake my head at the comments here. I suspect most haven’t travelled further than a beano to Southend. Seriously, the comments just show how detached some people are from reality.
But playing someone already prone to injury after flying west to east across international time zones (and the fatigue that actually causes, let alone the actual effects flying has on the body), so soon after a midweek game, is a recipe for injury disaster.
Yeah, maybe some people do fly back from Bendiorm and go straight back to their jobs in Greggs…careful you don’t pull a hamstring lifting a pasty. Mugs.