Edinson Cavani will not travel for Uruguay international duty

Manchester United have been boosted by the news that Edinson Cavani will now not travel to South America for Uruguay's upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

The 34-year-old had been called up for his country's clashes with Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador - the three games scheduled to take place within six days of each other - before the Premier League intervened and ruled that players travelling to red-list countries would not be released by their clubs.

Current UK government Covid-19 guidelines outline that anyone arriving from a country on the red list must quarantine at a hotel for ten days, which would have affected Cavani and many other players called up by the likes of Brazil and Argentina.

Initially, Uruguay intended to include Cavani anyway, but they have now confirmed that he will not meet up with the squad and will instead remain in Manchester.

Had the veteran striker travelled to South America, he'd have missed United's upcoming Premier League games with Newcastle and West Ham. Instead, Cavani will be able to continue working hard in training in order to get up to speed - something manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer referenced when asked about the disruption Cavani having to quarantine would have caused had he gone.

"I don’t want to be the manager who always moans, but it’s a fact that if you have to have 10 days in a hotel quarantining with no chance to train, no chance to keep your fitness up then you’ll need another 10-14 days to get back up to fitness again and then you’ve got to fly again," Solskjaer told the media.

"It’s an impossible situation for the clubs, it’s an impossible situation for the players. We understand that there are rules and broader issues here, that’s why we have to follow the rules and get on with it.

"I don’t want to be the moaning one but if there was a choice for me, playing for Norway or playing for Man Utd, I know who my employer is. Yes, it’s my country but the rules are as they are at the moment. Anyway, I’m not a player any more."

Cavani was a second-half substitute for United in their most recent Premier League game, a 1-0 win over Wolves secured by Mason Greenwood's goal ten minutes from time.