A third Brighton player has tested positive for coronavirus, the Premier League side’s chief executive Paul Barber has confirmed.
The unnamed individual will go into self-isolation for 14 days while he recovers from the virus, as per government guidelines.
The news will come as a big blow to English football’s ambitious ‘Project Restart’ initiative, with top-flight chiefs hoping to resume the season behind closed doors next month.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Barber revealed that another Seagulls player had contracted the deadly disease.
“It is a concern,” he admitted. “Unfortunately we’ve had a third player test positive yesterday (Saturday).
“Despite all of the measures that we’ve been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven’t been involved in any significant training at all, we’ve still suffered another player testing positive for the virus.
“So there are concerns and I think it’s normal for all clubs to have those concerns.
“We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure those protocols are in place and are safe and secure and mitigate the risk as far as we can.”
Brighton CEO Paul Barber says the Premier League is ‘100 per cent’ committed to finishing the season
The news comes as Seagulls technical director Dan Ashworth has called for players’ safety to be on top of the agenda at Monday’s Premier League meeting.
“The safety of players and staff is top of that list, everyone’s working hard to minimise risk for those groups,” he told the club’s official website.
“Then there’s a series of things: Where will the games be played? When can we start? When can the players train to make sure they’re not at risk of injury? How will the games be aired?
“The most important thing is safety, then you can look at the whole thing and discuss how it can all look, it’s about putting together the pieces of the jigsaw once we have a better idea of what the plan looks like.”
