Premier League clubs unanimously approved plans to resume training in small groups from Tuesday.
As part of the competition’s ‘Project Restart’ strategy, players must practice social distancing at all times and contact training is not allowed at this stage Testing for coronavirus at top-flight clubs has taken place over the past two days, and will continue throughout the training period and the return to match action in a bid to make the environment as safe as possible for all concerned.
The league was suspended on March 13 but no date for a resumption has yet been fixed.
The protocols were presented to players and managers on conference calls which took place last week.
A statement read: “Strict medical protocols of the highest standard will ensure everyone returns to training in the safest environment possible.
“The health and well-being of all participants is the Premier League‘s priority, and the safe return to training is a step-by-step process.
“Full consultation will now continue with players, managers, clubs, the PFA and LMA as protocols for full-contact training are developed.”
The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters has revealed that clubs will discuss contact training protocols next week.
Players and managers, including Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, have insisted adequate time must be factored in between the resumption of regular contact training and any season start date.
Masters says the widely reported start date of June 12 has only ever been a ‘staging post’ and a more definitive restart date can be set only once contact training protocols have been approved.
“June 12 was a staging post; it wasn’t a firm commitment and what we don’t want to do is continue to move it around,” he said.
“We know there’s a discussion to be had, it really depends on when we can start full contact training and we have a process to go through before we can get to that stage. Of course we’ve got to be flexible.
“Next week we are going to be discussing full contact training protocols for that. Once you know when you can start full contact training, and we have had a proper discussion with clubs about how much is required to create the fitness levels before they can start playing, we are then in a position to be able to confirm when the season start is.”
