Managers urge players to get jabbed

►Younger footballers ‘should ignore conspiracy theories’ ►Bruce reveals that many at Newcastle still not vaccinated

Premier League managers have united in publicly calling for more of their players to get vaccinated against Covid-19 amid rising concerns about further disruption to the professional game and the potential impact of “conspiracy theories” on young footballers.

A series of top-flight managers, including Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, have urged their squads to follow medical advice by getting two jabs as the pandemic continues to cause problems within squads across the league.

Steve Bruce, the Newcastle United manager, cited “conspiracy theories” as a reason why players are reluctant to step forward and revealed that “a lot” of his squad have not been vaccinated.

The calls come after Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow was admitted to hospital with coronavirus earlier this summer, while United goalkeeper Dean Henderson is still not available for selection despite contracting the virus in mid-july.

Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, who is fully vaccinated, has become the latest top-flight player to be ruled out of action after testing positive, while Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette is also unavailable this weekend as he struggles with symptoms of the virus. Lacazette was one of four Arsenal players who missed their opening-day defeat at Brentford after contracting Covid before the start of the season, with Arteta revealing yesterday that he was surprised the match had not been postponed following the outbreak.

Arteta said “most” of his players were fully vaccinated and that the club have been encouraging the

more reluctant members of his squad to step forward. The Arsenal manager described getting vaccinated as a “gesture of generosity”, adding: “It’s not about protecting ourselves, it’s about protecting the people around us as well.”

Bruce, meanwhile, warned that players could be turned away from the vaccine by online conspiracy theories and said Premier League managers were given strong advice by leading medical professionals at a recent meeting. “We have got a lot of players who haven’t had the jab,” Bruce said. “It’s their prerogative, but you can only go by the advice all the Premier League managers were given a week or so ago.

“Half of the meeting surrounded Covid and how vital it is that people are jabbed. We’ve had two or three players really sick with Covid here and Karl Darlow spent the best part of a week in hospital with it, so we’ve seen the severity of it first hand. But there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there.”

Last week, the latest figures showed that almost 30 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds had not received a first dose of the Covid vaccine in England.

The Daily Telegraph revealed earlier this month that the captains of the 20 Premier League clubs were told by deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van Tam that they could not “outrun” Covid-19 and were advised to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, said that only “some” of his players had been vaccinated, while Solskjaer said: “They are not all double-jabbed. But we can’t force anyone to do it.”