The Sun claims Premier League chiefs have now backed a July 31 deadline to finish the season during intense crunch talks involving UEFA, other major European leagues and leading clubs despite initial ambiguity surrounding plans on how to complete the seaon if in fact it would be feasible to do so.
This means the Premier League are now reportedly committed to wrapping up the current campaign by end July after the season was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic with the last top-flight match taking place six weeks ago.
An agreement has reportedly been reached which will see outstanding Champions League and Europa League ties be played throughout August before the new season kicks off. With things and the situation as they currently stand, Manchester City, Manchester United and Wolves are all still in European competitions.
Conflicting reports had emerged this week claiming that some Premier League clubs were considering doing a flip-flop after having originally reaffirmed their intention to finish the season due to the main concernand anxiety regarding the safety of their players physically engaging in a full contact sport with the risk of contracting Covid-19 still looming menacingly.
However, there now seems to be some clarity over the Premier League’s next move after an agreement was thrashed out by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and the European League umbrella group.
“The ambition has been the end of July to finish domestic leagues, then we can try to play the final phase of European competitions in August,” European Leagues head Lars Christer Olsson said.
“There will have to be some flexibility from UEFA.
“But we remain confident the leagues can finish. Most countries will be able to do it, although it will have to be games played without fans.”
Hopefully this news is expected to play a useful part in incentivising other leagues in the continent to be back up and running in June by the latest.