TOP CLUBS MAY REFUSE TO PLAY
All professional football off until April 3 but teams believe fixtures won’t start again immediately Medics fear ‘isolated’ players won’t be fit to play EIGHT Premier League clubs already hit by virus
PREMIER League clubs may refuse to play when the season is due to resume next month because of widespread concerns about their players’ fitness and the integrity of the competition.
All English professional football has been shut down until April 3 following talks between the Premier League, FA and EFL, but Sportsmail has been told that there is little expectation of a resumption being possible in three weeks’ time.
Executives at Premier League clubs have flagged a number of issues, which they say may be enough to prevent football returning next month, even if public events remain permitted by the Government. Their concerns include:
The fitness of their players, with medical departments at several clubs advising that
anyone who has been in isolation will need at least 14 days of training to regain match sharpness, which immediately takes them past the resumption date, even if no other players become ill.
The risk of more players contracting coronavirus during the shutdown, given that personnel at Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City, Bournemouth, Manchester City, West Ham, Brighton and Everton are already infected.
The need to protect the integrity of the competition by ensuring all clubs return to action at the same time, which will be impossible if there are more positive tests over the next three weeks.
The fact there are 69 Premier League players out of contract on June 30, which raises issues over sporting integrity if they have signed deals with other clubs.
With millions of pounds at stake in the battles to avoid relegation and to secure Champions League qualification, clubs are adamant that they will oppose any revised schedule they feel gives rivals an advantage, with those in the bottom six particularly sensitive to the timing of any resumption.
The crisis represents a real challenge to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, who was only appointed in December. FA chairman Greg Clarke yesterday raised doubts over the rest of the season, saying that he did not think it was feasible that it would be completed.
The Premier League clubs are due to reconvene for talks next week after a UEFA meeting on Tuesday when they are expected to take the dramatic step of postponing the European Championship until 2021, which would give domestic leagues time to complete their fixtures this summer.
However, the suspension of the season threatens to put the 69 Premier League players whose contracts expire on June 30 on a collision course with their clubs. They include Willian and Pedro at Chelsea, David Silva at Manchester City and Jan Vertonghen at Tottenham.
In the players’ contracts there is an option for expiring deals to be extended by 28 days in an emergency but only if parties agree.
Sportsmail has been told that several agents will demand longer or inflated contracts for their players to re-sign in such circumstances, particularly if they have had better offers from other clubs.
The prospect of the club season extending into July has become a real possibility and players in the final years of their contracts cease to be employed on June 30.
Udo Onwere, partner and head of sport at law firm Bray and Krais Solicitors, who has dealt with numerous Premier League player contracts, said: ‘Clubs will try to be creative but once June 30 hits the player no longer has any obligation to perform — that’s the bottom line. The player has all the power in this scenario.’
The delay in fixtures caused by the coronavirus would be viewed as a force majeure — humaninitiated action that cannot be predicted or controlled by the party to the contract — which are not covered in the majority of players’ contracts.
Yesterday, Premier League executives were considering how they might overcome the hurdle.
One solution mooted was for an agreement by which the player would complete the club’s fixtures for a one-off payment.
Intriguingly, if a player has not signed for a new club by the time his contract expires on June 30, his previous team is obliged to keep paying him until the end of July. However, one leading agent told
Sportsmail: ‘Why would I advise my player to agree to see out the season when he could get injured in that time and stop him signing for another club?’