Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp was among most vocal of the managers positive over restart plans for the Premier League, but they believe the proposed date of June 12 is ‘too ambitious’.
All 20 managers were present on a video call on Wednesday to discuss proposals for resuming the campaign, including the return to training later this month, with the wide expectation that clubs will report back for team exercises next week, and a June 12 restart date was pencilled in earlier for the remaining 92 fixtures.
The latest is that managers have now suggested this will be “too ambitious,” given the lack of training time, agreeing that they will need a longer period for their players to get back up to speed.
According to the Times, “managers feel government pressure is forcing them to return to competitive action” and “believe that they need at least four weeks of full contact training.”
Concerns are also rife among both players and managers over the protocols for non-contact training, and are still waiting on protocols for full training before they commit.
Should all go well as hoped and planned, Premier League clubs should sign off on protocols at their next shareholders’ meeting on Monday, which means that the return to training will be delayed until “at least Tuesday.” However, all parties maintain a “collective desire” to finish the season, with Klopp among the most vocal at the meeting.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein described the Liverpool manager as “keen to try and finish the season on grounds of sporting integrity, irrespective of his team’s hopes of lifting the title.”
Klopp “sounded reassured on areas such COVID-19 testing” though according to the Times he did explore the plans for a 40-person pool of players and staff due to limits to testing, which will be conducted twice a week.
He also asked whether clubs could promote youth players to the squad in the event of “multiple injuries and, possibly, COVID-19 infections.”
This is invariably a sensible approach, initially restricting the group available but adding to it if required.