Sportsmail revealed that the English top flight is facing increasing pressure from clubs to make a decision on the fate of the season, with some fearful over expiring contracts. They want a 'D-Day' completion date of June 30 - the day many deals finish - to avoid a minefield of legal struggles with stars and commercial partners.
Football has been suspended in England since early March as teams train at home amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The Premier League are in discussions about when they can get matches back underway, with June 6 being mooted as a possibility, with officials set to hold crunch talks with stakeholders on Friday.
But with some players soon becoming free agents, it makes the prospect of wrapping up the season over the summer much more complicated.
Speaking on Sky Sports' The Football Show, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said if he was still a footballer he would continue playing games beyond the expiry of his contract, adding that he might request to extend it by a few weeks if it was possible.
He said every team was in the same predicament and that players should band together to wrap up the campaign.
'I'd just play,' he said. 'Whether under contract or not. I'd want to see the season out. Every team is in the same boat.
'There was something a couple of weeks ago about Fifa extending contracts but I don't know whether that is legally possibly. I'd want to finish that season as a player and maybe extend the contract by two or three weeks.
'If you're two or three matches away you might as well finish it. I was never in that situation about having my contract run down.'
Meanwhile, his former Liverpool teammate Jamie Redknapp had his say on the situation, saying he sympathised with stars whose deals were nearly up and said they might not want to risk getting injured and jeapordising their careers.
He added that clubs would be 'asking for a lot of goodwill' and that some players may already have moves agreed.
'It's a difficult one,' he added. 'I can see both sides. You want loyalty but a player might wonder if he's insured and picks up an injury that ends his career.
'Some might have already sorted moves so you're asking for a lot of goodwill. You get pressure from agents, the club.
'The problem is we don't know how long this is going to last. We might start again and one club picks up the virus. We don't know how long this is going to last.'
0 Comments