Ilkay Gundogan will miss Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the United States because he received only one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
The Sunday Telegraph has been told to Gundogan, who contracted Covid-19 in September 2020, had his first Covid-19 shot last summer and was deemed fully vaccinated in his native Germany due to a previous infection.
However, foreign visitors entering the United States must have had two doses of vaccine, and Gundogan planned to get a second shot to travel there to contract the disease again last month.
Doctors advised him to wait three months after he recovered from the virus before continuing.
The 31-year-old is one of three City players reportedly missing out on the US tour, along with England duo John Stones and Phil Foden, although the club has not given any reasons why the two others are not traveling.
The trio were scheduled to fly to Croatia with City’s Under-23 squad today on Sunday to continue their preparations for the new season.
During City’s US tour, they will play friendlies against Mexican Club America in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, and Bayern Munich in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday.
They then return home a week later to face FA Cup holders Liverpool in the Community Shield.
They are not the only club whose plans for the season have been disrupted by players not meeting eligibility requirements for countries they tour after the pandemic.
Chelsea confirmed last week that N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek would miss their own trip to the US due to their vaccination status, with Crystal Palace being forced to abandon several players from their tour of Singapore and Australia for reasons ranging from admission requirements for injuries.
Among the absent were the future English couple Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze.
As revealed by the Telegraphsome players faced with being forced to quarantine for five days arriving at this year’s World Cup due to their refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Some English players competing for the tournament in Qatar are said to be with them, giving manager Gareth Southgate a headache choosing them or not if eligibility requirements aren’t relaxed before it starts.