Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ABSENT PLAYERS AN INTEGRITY RISK
Cleverley: Prem undermined if more stars pull out over virus
TOM CLEVERLEY reckons the Premier League’s integrity will be called into question if clubs lose big players like Watford’s Troy Deeney for the run-in over their coronavirus concerns.
After the withdrawal from training of Deeney and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante, former Liverpool and England star Jamie Redknapp claimed last week that if other players follow suit it could lead to an “unfair competition”.
And Watford midfielder Cleverley (above, right) said: “I saw what Jamie was talking about and it makes sense.
“If five or six of your players are missing through personal circumstances, it’s going to hit hard – and it will affect the integrity of the competition.
“You can’t really just say, ‘That’s bad luck, get on with it,’ when so much is at stake. But the players have just got to take it day by day. Hopefully, if the league does continue, we’ll have all our best players and a full-strength squad to pick from.
“If it’s not the case, then we will have to deal with it – it’s got to be a no-excuses mentality from now until the end of the season.”
Deeney did not return to phase-one training last week over fears of catching the virus and passing it on to family members, including his five-month-old son who has had breathing difficulties.
But Cleverley will have no qualms about telling Deeney that he feels every bit as safe training as he does in his everyday life, after reporting back to the Hornets’
Hertfordshire HQ. He added:
“I don’t know what stance Troy is taking, whether he has ruled out playing or if he’s one of those who comes under the ‘let me see how safe it is first, then I’ll return’.
“I don’t think we should create anxiety that we are going to miss him for games just yet. Troy’s a fitness freak anyway and there’s absolutely no problem that he’s taken the decision to maybe watch from arm’s length for the minute. “There have been a couple who have had doubts and players are slowly starting to filter back. “You have to respect their decisions, and if they wanted the opinions of other players, and that might help them to be able feel more comfortable, I’d be positive about it.
“I would say I have come into contact with as many people as I would going to the supermarket or for a morning jog around my estate.”
If, or when, the Premier League does return, it will do so with Watford fourth from bottom, but ahead of 18th-placed Bournemouth on goal difference alone, and in a real relegation battle.
If Watford do go down then, whatever the circumstances, Cleverley insists that there will be no complaints from himself or any of his team-mates.
He said: “If the worst comes to the worst, it’s because we’ve not been good enough as a squad.
“Even if you were missing two or three through anxieties, that’s why you have a 25-man squad and, as a squad, we would not have been good enough over 38 games.”