Gary Neville fears Premier League players will be forced to return to training – because they don’t want to upset their respective dressing rooms.
Top-flight clubs have returned to their HQs for group sessions this week despite the Premier League announcing on Tuesday that six people had tested positive out of 748 at 19 clubs.
Watford have said three of the positive tests were at their club – defender Adrian Mariappa and two staff members – and captain Troy Deeney is among the players to opt out of returning.
It also emerged that Chelsea star N’Golo Kante pulled out of training after just one session due to fears over the coronavirus crisis.
And Neville feels that more players will feel uncomfortable – but will still go to training.
(Image: Sky Sports)
Neville told Sky Sports’ The Football Show: “Players are uncomfortable. The dressing room is a challenging environment to stand up and say “I’m not going to come to training, I’m not going to be with the rest of my team-mates.”
“Twenty years ago everyone would have been pressurised and told to get on with it, you would have felt that peer pressure but that peer pressure still exists.
“It’s almost like when your manager used to say when you were younger that training is optional tomorrow, don’t worry if you don’t want to come in, I won’t hold it against you. You knew full well you had to come in because if you didn’t come in you weren’t being professional.
“It’s a bit like that now, when you hear a manager on TV saying they won’t put any pressure on my players.
(Image: Getty Images)
“If you’re a player at home with doubts and all your team-mates are going in, you’re going to go in.
“You mentioned [N’Golo] Kante and his circumstances, you understand why he’s going to be nervous. Troy Deeney the same.
“I do think there will be more players in training at the moment with nerves who are wary of going in and are considering their health.
“A large majority will be okay with it and want to play so it’s a case of “we’re not going to stop this now, they’re back in training”. This is a train back on the track, so it isn’t going to stop.”
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