Project Restart: Tottenham’s Player Tests Positive For Coronavirus
- To self-isolate for seven days
- One positive test from 1,197 players, staff excites EPL officials
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – With all attention fixed on Wednesday, June 17 proposed restart date for the English Premiership, Tottenham Hotspur revealed one of their players has tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-isolate for the next seven days.
The London club, which decided to keep the player’s identity confidential, however said he is in good health and not experiencing any symptoms of the deadly virus.
Reports also indicated that the player with the positive COVID-19 status is not a key first-team player for the Manager Jose Mourinho-tutored squad.
The positive test was the only one from the Premier League’s fifth and latest round of screening, which took in 1,197 players and members of staff at the 20 clubs. This development represents another boost on the road to Project Restart.
The League has pledged to make public results of all tests in the interests of transparency and the aggregated numbers now show that there have been 13 positives from 5,073 people screened.
The fear has always been that high or rising numbers of infections could jeopardise the plan for the league to restart on June 17 and complete the remaining games by July 25 or 26, but that has not been the case thus far, showing the safety measures introduced at training grounds are proving robust.
The isolated positive case announced on Wednesday follows zero positive results from the previous round of testing.
The League and the clubs will hold their latest conference call on Thursday (June 4, 2020) at which a variety of topics will be discussed. These include curtailment scenarios and a proposed fixture list, together with more technical matters relating to player registration, squad size and substitutes.
Also, the Metropolitan police says it will look at the final proposed fixture list before recommending whether any games in London should be moved to neutral venues.
In Liverpool, the City Council’s safety advisory group is due to meet early next week, with Everton hoping it will allow them to stage the derby against Liverpool at Goodison Park over the long weekend of June 19 – 22, 2020
Meanwhile, Amazon has announced that its four remaining televised matches will be made available free to air; in line with Sky Sports’ pledge to do the same with 25 of its 64 games and the BBC’s four terrestrial fixtures. – With agency reports