Former Man City coach urges Premier League players to revolt if season resumes

Premier League players have been urged to join a global revolt if the season resumes by former Manchester City fitness coach Raymond Verheijen.

The Premier League and EFL are currently suspended indefinitely amid the coronavirus outbreak but discussions regarding completing the season are ongoing, with a number of plans being mooted that would see the campaign resume in the summer months.

However, Verheijen fears that the Premier League could take a chance on the health and fitness of the players in a bid to save billions in lost TV revenue - and he urged the game's biggest names to save football from its own greed.

“The season must be cancelled to protect the players. I have spoken to players about the coronavirus situation and they are ­worried about being told to play ­before the crisis is over,” he told the Mirror.

“They are scared about ­becoming infected by a ­team-mate or an opponent. So that's the first thing the football authorities need to address. And the second issue that needs to be raised is the ­possibility of ­players suffering career-threatening injuries.

"Everyone understands that there is huge financial pressure on the game and we all want to see football resumed as quickly as possible – but only when the crisis is over and the reality is that it won't be ­possible to finish the current season by the end of the summer.

“Most players don't have the ­influence to say, 'I am not playing until I know it's safe'. Only the players' unions and the best footballers in the world have that kind of power.

“It would be a powerful message if the stars of the Premier League joined big names like Messi and ­Ronaldo to say, 'None of us will play until the game is safe'.”

The Dutchman fears that any other scenario would be playing Russian roulette with the players' futures, adding: “It is important to have a reliable frame of ­reference to understand the situation players will be in.

“The coronavirus crisis may be unique, but, in many ways, the ­postponement of matches can be ­compared to what happens at the end of every season.

“First, there is an off-season when players are on holiday for three or four weeks and are given individual training programmes to maintain some level of fitness.

“Let's say that, if their ­fitness level is at 10 when they stop playing football, then during this period of relative ­inactivity that ­fitness will drop to perhaps a level of five.

“When they go into a ­pre-season of five or six weeks to prepare to start playing again, it usually takes about a month to get back up to optimum fitness.

“When football resumes after this crisis, players are going to need the equivalent of a pre-season. Players have been in relative ­inactivity now for three weeks.

“If that period stretches to six or eight weeks – or even longer – then it is ­logical that they will need longer to ­recover their physical condition. That isn't my opinion – that is a fact based on the science.”