Grounded: Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton delayed in linking up with Brazil squad after plane to South Korea was forced to land back at departure airport
Poor Joelinton can't seem to catch a break. He's been in and out of the Brazil squad, and when he finally gets a recall under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, the Newcastle United man's plane is forced to land back from where it originally took off.
Bruno Guimaraes was on the same flight as Joelinton. The duo are both heading to Seoul, South Korea, for an international friendly, when their connecting flight from Amsterdam was forced to return whence it came due to an issue with one of the plane's windows.
The diversion came when the duo had already been in the air for 12 hours before they landed back in Amsterdam, according to Globo.
Now the pair have extra travel time on top of what's already a ridiculously busy schedule for mid-season international friendlies.
Brazil are playing in Korea and Japan during this break
Brazil are taking on South Korea on Friday in Seoul, and then they head to Japan for another friendly on Tuesday before everyone returns to their respective clubs.
That's a lot of time spent flying around the world in the middle of a season, and it could put players at a much higher risk of injury due to fatigue.
With Brazil having already qualified for next year's World Cup, Joelinton would have been hoping to put down a marker for Ancelotti during this break, but now his ability to do so will be compromised thanks to the travel setback.
Newcastle could be left with a huge midfield headache
More importantly, for us anyway, is that the increased risk of injury to Bruno and Joelinton is an added stress we could absolutely do without right now, with Jacob Ramsey already absent from the midfield.
Ramsey was expected to be back in the squad on Sunday, but Eddie Howe left him out. Whether there's still a niggle there or Howe was just playing it safe, we're not sure, but it's hardly like he'll be able to hit the ground running and get a full 90 minutes under his belt straight away.
Fingers crossed this flight drama doesn't affect Bruno and Joelinton, and they can return to Newcastle ready to go against Brighton a week on Saturday.
