Premier League side Brighton has confirmed that one of the players at the club has tested positive for coronavirus. The chief executive officer of the club Paul Barber confirmed the development during the weekend, bringing the number of coronavirus cases at the club to three.
Brighton had its first confirmed case in March while three of the club’s players exhibited symptoms. One out the three later tested positive and then another tested positive for the virus on Saturday, May 9.
While confirming the third case on Sunday, May 10, 2020, Paul Barber who is known as the first club owner to oppose playing the remaining 92 fixtures of the Premier League in neutral venues, told Sky Sports News that the third player contracted the virus despite the strict guidelines in place. He, however, failed to mention the names of the footballers who have contracted the virus at the club.
“It is a concern,” he said. Unfortunately, we’ve had a third player test positive yesterday (Saturday, May 9), so despite all of the measures that we’ve been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven’t been involved in any significant training at all, we’ve still suffered another player testing positive for the virus.
“So there are concerns and I think it’s normal for all clubs to have those concerns. We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure those protocols are in place and are safe and secure and mitigate the risk as far as we can.”
Resumption of the league is still in the hands of the government, chief executive officer of Brighton Paul Barber says
The Premier League clubs have been in a series of talks under the theme “Project Restate”. The clubs are expected to meet on Monday and the angle of their discussions will be heavily influenced by what the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson will say in his national address tonight.
Ahead of the public address and the Premier League clubs’ meeting, Paul Barber told Sky Sports that the Premier League should give the clubs a complete plan that will cover all the stages that will lead to the resumption of the 2019-2020 season.
“First we need to get players back training in small groups, then they need to get involved in some contact training and then training for a match before the match itself”, he said.
“So there are lots of stages, it’s very complex and there are people at the Premier League working very hard to produce detailed paperwork to move through those stages as safely as possible.”
The Brighton‘s chief executive said the fact that three players in Brighton tested positive for coronavirus might not stop the season from resuming in June as it is being projected.
“Whether or not these hurdles can be surmounted remains to be seen, but the underlying point, certainly from the government this week, is that they will do all they can to help the Premier League get this back on”, he added.
