The road to Premier League football returning to our screens amid the COVID-19 pandemic has made a huge step today as select clubs have resumed training in smaller groups.
League officials, along with medical experts and representatives from all 20 sides, held talks on Monday through a video conerence call and all collectively agreed to begin stage one of the return to training protocols. Stage one enables squads to train while maintaining social distancing rules, with contact training not yet being permitted.
This morning has seen various Premier League stars arrive at their respected training grounds: Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was pictured arriving at Melwood training ground; Steven Bergwijn at Tottenham's training ground; John Stones was seen driving into Manchester City's Etihad training complex, while members of Wolverhampton Wanderers, including Conor Coady and Diogo Jota, were seen doing isolated fitness sessions.
Mancheter United's players will return to training at Carrington on Wednesday and have been tested for the coronavirus at the Aon Training Complex on Sunday.
This is a solid step towards the return of top-flight football in England, and although the return of the game will be behind closed doors, the return of the Bundesliga in the same circumstances has proven that private games are the slice of sporting heaven all football fans are craving.
