Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp has admitted that more Premier League players will stop training after having conversations with their managers. Troy Deeney and N’Golo Kante are the only players who have not trained since Premier League clubs resumed training this week. Both are staying away due to health risks.
Redknapp said that he has spoken to some managers and many more players are expected to follow the paths of Kante and Deeney. The Premier League is set to start from June 12 according to many reports and players quitting training can be a huge problem for the clubs as well as the league.
“I’ve spoken to managers, there’s a lot more to come out that just don’t feel right about it,” Redknapp speaking to Sky Sports. “That’s going to be a major problem.
“If you’ve got a squad of 22, 23 players and six or seven are not comfortable, they think they’re putting their families at risk, how is that a fair competition? It becomes a real Premier League problem. It doesn’t become fair.
“Some managers have come out now and said it’s going to be a fair situation no matter what happens, but if you’re going to lose three or four players, and Troy Deeney’s the captain of Watford, that’s not a fair competition.
“I do think it’s going to get harder and harder, I think you’re going to see more players coming out and saying they’re not sure about playing, they’re not sure about what’s going on. So you’ve just got to take each incident in isolation.”
Redknapp spent 13 years playing in the Premier League with Liverpool, Tottenham and Southampton. He said that he would love to return to training as a player but there are some players at present who are nervous to come ahead and speak about their disagreement with resuming training.
“It’s so difficult for players right now,” Redknapp continued, “a lot of them are keen to come and get started, but there will be others like N’Golo Kante who are nervous, and are looking at underlying health problems, and believe if they come back and give the virus to someone, how would they feel about that going forward?
“If he says he doesn’t want to play, I think Frank Lampard would be the first to say that’s fine, but there will be a lot of players who are nervous to say they’re not comfortable because they’re worried about the repercussions, people who’ll say you should play, you should be out there, you earn this much money.
