Players ready to play out rest of season
SQUEEZING the remainder of the season into a short space of time would be “dangerous” for players, Leicester City forward Ayoze Perez has said.
But the Spaniard believes Premier League stars would agree to matches in quick succession in a bid to complete the campaign.
It has been five weeks since the last competitive match on British soil, with the country shutting down to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
It will be another four weeks at the very least before the season resumes, but the Premier League say they are committed to playing out the final nine matches in order to maintain the integrity of the division.
While the end date of the season has been pushed back, fixtures could come thick and fast as leagues aim to lessen the impact on next year’s schedule.
In that scenario, Perez says the authorities would be risking injuries to players, but added that he and his fellow professionals would go ahead with plans, such is their desire to get back out on the pitch.
“I understand the fact the league has to be finished,” Perez said from his native Spain, where he is keeping his fitness up with regimes prescribed by City’s sports science staff. “You have to agree with that.
“As soon as everyone is safe and there is no danger, that is the moment you have to finish. I think it will get finished. The most important thing is to make sure everyone is safe and that there are no problems at all by playing the league.
“We will see when it is the time to restart the football. You miss football, you want to get back on the pitch and play. We have nine games left. We might have to do that, play the games in a short period.
“It’s dangerous because of injuries but obviously we have to finish the league somehow so it could be an option and most players will be up for it and will agree to that, but we will see. We aren’t the ones who have to make a decision though, we just have to adapt ourselves when that moment comes.”
If the season does resume, it could be a momentous one for City if they can secure qualification to the Champions League for just the second time in the club’s history.
Reaching Europe’s top competition will change the public perception of Brendan Rodgers’ side, Perez believes.
“After this season, people will start looking at us in a different way,” the 26-year-old said. “Obviously, it was an unbelievable achievement what the guys did a few seasons ago but people think it could’ve been a one-off season where everything went their way.
“But as soon as you’re inside the club and know everything about it, you realise everything happens for a reason.
“They way they work, they way they see people and treat each other is important and you don’t see that very often in every club so it’s special, you feel like a family and that’s important in football.”