Rovers are awaiting news of any potential sanctions for Ben Brereton not travelling to meet up with the Chile squad – with Tony Mowbray insisting: ‘we have to protect our football club’.

Brereton was named in the Chile squad for their upcoming three World Cup qualifiers which would have ruled him out of action for three Rovers matches upon his return. That would be down to quarantine restrictions placed upon anyone returning from a ‘red list’ country, of which Chile, plus opponents Brazil and Colombia are.

The EFL clubs followed the Premier League’s stance in stating that clubs shouldn’t release players for matches to be played in red list countries with no Government exemptions on quarantine rules.

FIFA have pushed hard to change that, but Brereton is expected to stay with Rovers during the international break.

He would have missed the match against Luton Town (September 11) even with an exemption, with Chile’s game in Colombia scheduled for the day before, while quarantine would have also seen him miss out against Hull City (September 14) and Barnsley (September 18).

There is the prospect of Brereton being ruled out of the Luton game should he not travel, as part of FIFA sanctions on him not being released, but Rovers are awaiting further information.

“As I constantly say, let cleverer people than me make those decisions,” Mowbray said of Brereton’s case.

“The Chilean FA, I have spoken to the director of football and they obviously want Ben to be involved and will do everything they can to protect their federation and we have to protect our football club.

“It seems to me sitting here today that Ben won’t be given permission to go, whether that changes in the next few days we’ll wait and see, but he won’t be given permission to go in line with everyone who would be going to South America, or any red list country, from the Premier League or the EFL.

“Whether there are then sanctions imposed on those players we will have to wait to see what happens, but historically there has been for players not turning up for their countries for international games so we’ll see what develops.”

The South American nations are behind in their World Cup qualification matches after the suspension of games in March.

That has seen an extension in the international windows from nine to 11 days to allow them to play three matches in September, October and November, before two more at the turn of the year, to decide who is going to Qatar in December 2022.

Brereton pledged allegiance to the country of his mother’s birth in the summer and won five caps in the Copa America, scoring once, and has become something of a sensation in Chile.

But having scored three of Rovers’ six league goals so far this season, Mowbray says the priority has to be ensuring he’s available for Rovers.

“I’d rather he score goals for our club and help us win football matches. We pay his wages and I think the club should take a stance that they have to look after the club,” he added.

“If it means Ben Brereton goes away with Chile, his return date, without no quarantine, he would still miss the Luton game at home because he doesn’t get back in the country until the Saturday morning.

“It’s not ideal for us in any way, whether it was a green country or an amber country, he wouldn’t have got back until Saturday morning so would have been very unlikely he was going to fly half the way around the world, get off a flight and then come and play.

“Let’s see what the next few days bring, what FIFA do, what the FA do. It seems they, along with the Premier League and EFL, have said that the players won’t have to go and it seems to me the Government aren’t giving any leeway on not quarantining on return and we are a bit stuck.

“Ultimately it will come down to FIFA what sanctions those players might suffer.”