Premier League clubs including Man Utd & Man City ‘to charter private plane’ to transport South American stars

Six Premier League clubs, including Manchester United and Manchester City, are involved in a plan to charter a private jet from Brazil to transport their South American stars back to England in time for this weekend’s matches.

As reported by the MailOnline, United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds United and Aston Villa are reportedly set to share the six-figure cost of chartering the aircraft which would transport players back from Brazil following their World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, which kicks off in the early hours of Friday morning.

The match begins at 1.30am UK time, just 37-and-a-half hours before both United and City respectively are in Premier League action, with the Red Devils away to Leicester and City hosting Burnley on Saturday.

The chartered plane would ensure Fred and Edinson Cavani return to the UK in time for the game, while Ederson and Gabriel Jesus would be available for the Citizens.

However, after such a chaotic journey there is no guarantee that any of the players would actually feature in Saturday’s matches, and could instead be rested for the midweek Champions League games.

Also involved in the plan are Liverpool pair Alisson and Fabinho, Leeds United’s Raphina, Chelsea’s Thiago Silva and Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa.

The Mail also report that two flights may be arranged with players travelling to different parts of England and that social distancing will be implemented on board.

Our view on team impact

United and City both have enough depth in their squads that rotating players isn’t an issue, and Fred, Cavani and Jesus are unlikely to start at the weekend after such unsettled preparations.

Ederson is a different case and goalkeepers are rarely rotated. We saw a similar situation with Villa’s Emiliano Martinez last month, when he started against Everton at 5:30pm after arriving back in England just that morning.

However, Burnley have proved favourable opposition for City in recent seasons and Pep Guardiola could see this as an opportunity to hand back-up keeper Zack Steffen only a second Premier League appearance.