New Manchester United signing Odion Ighalo will not travel on the club's training camp in Spain to ensure he is not denied re-entry to the UK over coronavirus fears.
Ighalo, who signed on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, could be subject to any restrictions placed on travellers who have come from China since the outbreak of the virus.
The Coronavirus death toll has pushed past 700 as of Saturday with around 35,000 confirmed cases worldwide.
There have been three confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the UK so far.
Speaking to MUTV, United Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained Ighalo would be excluded from the training camp as a precaution: "Odion will stay in Manchester because he arrived from China in the last 14 days,"
"Because of the situation in China, we're not sure if he'd be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again, so he's staying here working with a personal coach, individual programme and his family then can settle in England as well.
"Of course he might have liked to have come with the players and got to know them, but the risk [of travel restrictions tightening], we don't want to take that.
The United squad flew to Marbella on Saturday and the club confirmed that their new striker's exclusion was "simply a precautionary measure as the situation continues to be monitored".
Paul Pogba, who remains out with an ankle issue, and Marcus Rashford, recovering from a back injury, have also not travelled with the squad.
Meanwhile, Scott McTominay and Axel Tuanzebe have recovered enough from their respective injuries to partake in the squad's getaway.
"Scotty has done better in his recovery than we thought, so we will take him with us," Solskjaer added to MUTV.
"Hopefully he can join in the training sessions and Axel as well, he'll join in, so that's two positives and it's a good chance for them to use this time with the players."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
