Premier League clubs voted on contact training on Wednesday, marking a significant step towards a league resumption, after the British government earlier this week provided guidance on a phased return to close-contact and competitive training with “carefully controlled medical conditions in place”.
The league said that the move means players will “train as a group and engage in tackling while minimising unnecessary close contact”, having resumed training in small groups last week.
No issues were raised during a Tuesday video call between the Premier League, Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and the League Managers Association (LMA), enabling Wednesday’s vote to proceed despite fears over player concerns previously voiced by N’Golo Kante and Troy Deeney.
The Premier League said in a statement: “Premier League Shareholders today voted unanimously to resume contact training, marking another step towards restarting the Premier League season, when safe to do so.
“Strict medical protocols are in place to ensure the training ground is the safest environment possible and players and staff will continue to be tested for COVID-19 twice a week.
“Discussions are ongoing as work continues towards resuming the season, when conditions allow.”
The announcement came only hours before the latest round of testing was made public, with four individuals from three different clubs testing positive. A total of 1,008 players and staff were tested in the third round.
Those four tests takes the total of positive tests within Premier League ranks to 12 overall, including Bournemouth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and Watford defender Adrian Mariappa.