Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia have not caused problems behind the scenes since returning to Aston Villa following international duty, according to Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield.

Why would their call-up have caused tension?

Premier League clubs unanimously voted against releasing players for matches taking place in Covid-19 red-list countries before the international break earlier this month.

However, Villa gave Buendia and Martinez permission to join up with their Argentina team-mates for World Cup qualifying clashes with Venezuela and Brazil just a matter of days later.

Villa allowed the duo to travel to South America despite it meaning they would be unable to feature when Dean Smith's side travelled to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea when the Premier League returned.

Tottenham Hotspur's Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso also joined up with the Argentina squad despite Spurs head coach Nuno Espirito Santo admitting he had not approved of the decision.

Matters took a farcical turn for the quartet as, in Sao Paulo, Brazilian health officials walked onto the pitch and halted the clash between Brazil and Argentina after just seven minutes as they objected to the Premier League stars being involved and accused them of breaking quarantine rules.

The World Cup qualifier was then abandoned and Fifa have since opened an investigation into the matter.

Enter Giveaway

Enter Giveaway

What has Luke Hatfield said about how the situation went down in the Villa changing room?

Hatfield insists the incredible scenes in Brazil has not resulted in Buendia and Martinez creating tension among their Villa team-mates.

He told GMS: "I don't think the players will have caused any kind of problems behind the scenes with what they did.

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"I think they were quite open and honest about it, which isn't the case with some other clubs.

"At Spurs, for example, two players went on their travels without informing anyone by the sounds of it.

"With Villa, I think it was much better communicated between the players and the club."

Have Buendia and Martinez been involved since their return?

Buendia became Villa's club record signing when he joined from Norwich City in the summer, but that did not stop Smith leaving him on the bench for the 3-0 win over Everton last weekend.

However, the 24-year-old played the full 90 minutes as Villa crashed out of the League Cup following a third round penalty shoot-out defeat at Chelsea on Wednesday.

Unlike Buendia, Martinez was drafted straight back into Smith's starting line-up for the win over Everton.