England footballers Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood to return home for breach of Covid-19 protocols

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 9/7/2020, 10:29 a.m.
Two footballers for England's men's national team have had to leave the squad after breaching Covid-19 protocols in Iceland, manager …
This combination of pictures created on September 07, 2020 shows Manchester United's Mason Greenwood (L) running with the ball during the International Champions Cup football tournament between English Premier League sides Manchester United and Tottenham at Hongkou Football Stadium in Shanghai on July 25, 2019, and Manchester City's English midfielder Phil Foden running with the ball during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Manchester City at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on July 21, 2020. - Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood have been sent home from England duty after breaching coronavirus rules, manager Gareth Southgate said on September 7, 2020. Southgate revealed Manchester City midfielder Foden and Manchester United forward Greenwood would not be travelling from Iceland to Denmark for Tuesday's Nations League match. (Photos by HECTOR RETAMAL and Adrian DENNIS / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL,ADRIAN DENNIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)/Credit: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

By Richard Parr and George Ramsay, CNN

(CNN) -- Two footballers for England's men's national team have had to leave the squad after breaching Covid-19 protocols in Iceland, manager Gareth Southgate announced Monday.

Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood will not travel to Denmark for the upcoming UEFA Nations League game and will instead return to the UK.

Icelandic media outlet DV reported the two players were visited by two women in their hotel.

"Unfortunately, this morning [it] was brought to my attention that two boys had broken the Covid guidelines in terms of our secure bubble," Southgate told reporters on Monday.

"We had to decide very quickly that they couldn't have any interaction with the rest of the team and wouldn't be able to travel to training.

"Given the procedures that we have to follow now they'll have to travel back to England separately."

England players have been told to stay in a secure team bubble during Nations League games.

Both Manchester City's Foden and Manchester United's Greenwood won their first caps in Saturday's game, Foden playing the full 90 minutes while Greenwood came on as a second-half substitute for striker Harry Kane.

The two players were kept away from breakfast and training on Monday after it emerged they had broken protocols, according to Southgate, who added that no other team members had been in contact with them.

"Nothing has happened in the areas that we occupy in the hotel," he said. "We're still getting to the depths of all the information because, as I said, this was only brought to my attention a couple of hours before training.

"Nobody from outside our party has been into the areas of the hotel that we're occupying."

He later added: "At the moment I'm trying to take a lot of information in. Obviously, they've been naïve. We've dealt with it appropriately.

"I think everything from there on, I recognize their age but of course the whole world is dealing with this pandemic and there's responsibility on every age group to make sure that they play their part in keeping each other safe and not spreading the virus.

"We're certainly not underestimating how important it's been to try and keep that bubble as we have."

England defeated Iceland 1-0 after a chaotic end to the game that saw Raheem Sterling score a late penalty before Birkir Bjarnason misfired from the penalty spot for the host side in stoppage time.

England will also be without defender Kyle Walker for the trip to Denmark, which lost 2-0 to Belgium in the group's other game, as he serves a suspension for being red carded against in Saturday's game.

Manchester City said Foden's actions were "totally inappropriate."

A statement from the club continued: "His behaviour not only directly contravenes strict guidelines related to Covid-19, but also falls well below the standard expected of a Manchester City player and England international.

"The club supports the FA regarding this incident, and officials from the club are now in touch in relation to Phil's enforced early return to the UK."

CNN reached out to Manchester United for comment but did not immediately receive a response. In a statement sent to Manchester Evening News, the club said it is "liaising with the Football Association and are disappointed with the actions of Mason Greenwood over this situation."