'Premier League Players Should Not Be Paid If They Refuse To Train, Says Official

A Premier League official believes players should NOT be paid if they refuse to train over COVID-19 fears.

All 20 Premier League clubs are meeting today to vote on how training will work and to agree a protocol to protect players and staff amid the coronavirus crisis.

Squads are currently working in isolation, but sides are ready to begin small group work at training grounds.

Image: PA

But some players have expressed concerns about returning to training and one senior official thinks Premier League stars who refuse to train should not be paid their wages.

"I really don't think they should be paid," the official told Sky Sports. "We are not sure what the situation is under their contracts at the moment.

"If you asked people in the street would you train and play football against people being tested twice a week, would you do it for £60,000 a week, they'd all say yes. It makes me very cross."

“We’re doing all this testing to get footballers back to work and then the NHS, care workers and the people on the front line don’t have enough tests.”

"How do you justify that?”

- Troy Deeney#watfordfc pic.twitter.com/VnmmyeWZ3x

— TheWatfordWay (@thewatfordway) May 14, 2020

Sergio Aguero:

“The majority of players are scared [to return] - they have family, children, babies.

When we go back, I imagine that we will be very tense. We will be very careful and the moment someone feels ill, you will think: ‘what’s gone on there’..."#MCFC | @ManCity pic.twitter.com/CVeBezXfmz

— Man City Xtra (@City_Xtra) April 30, 2020

One Premier League club owner, meanwhile, hopes that clubs can agree to phase one training.

"I would hope that we can start small group training this week," the club owner said. "The plan is then to move onto full contact training after a week.

"I'm expecting most, if not all our players back this week, but a lot of them are worried about playing games and contact training. I'd say it's maybe as high as 40 or 50 per cent of them.

"All our players were tested this weekend with a view to training on Tuesday after we get the results late on Monday."

Players are aware of the strict protective measures which will be put in place for phase one.

It includes social distancing from teammates and staff as well as no tackling or spitting.

Many players are believed to be encouraged by the events from last weekend which saw the return of the Bundesliga.

source https://www.sportbible.com/football/news-players-should-not-be-paid-if-they-refuse-to-train-say-official-20200518