Arsenal, West Ham and Brighton players return to training grounds

West Ham, Brighton and Arsenal reopened their London Colney training ground to first team players for individual training on Monday as the Premier League club continued to observe social distancing protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

France striker Alexandre Lacazette, Brazil defender David Luiz and Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka were seen arriving at the facility, which is situated 20 miles north of London.

The Arsenal players trained separately while keeping their distance from each other on the pitch.

The English top-flight is reportedly eyeing a resumption of the season on June 8 behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Project Restart” could see the 20 Premier League clubs resume full training by May 18, allowing players a three-week “pre-season”.

Premier League chiefs, due to meet with clubs on Friday, are committed to finishing the season, with Liverpool on the brink of their first English top-flight title for 30 years.

Brighton said in a statement on Monday that the club were allowing “restricted external access to the training pitches for first-team players only, for non-compulsory individual training”.

“Players will need to book and be allotted staggered arrival slots, allocated their own area to train and expected to fully adhere to social distancing rules while doing so, and when arriving and exiting the facility,” the statement added.

A West Ham spokesman said players in apartments or without safe access to green spaces were permitted access to training pitches.

“Access will be limited to one player at a time and all sessions will be in line with government guidelines around social distancing,” he said.

An Arsenal club spokesman confirmed on Saturday that players would be allowed to return this week but access would be carefully managed.

It was unclear whether manager Mikel Arteta , who tested positive for the virus last month but has since recovered, was present on Monday.

Soccer in England has been suspended indefinitely and no clubs have been in training since Arsenal’s Spanish manager Arteta was diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 12. No matches have been played since.

This week saw Arsenal become the first Premier League club to agree a coronavirus pay cut with their players as manager Arteta and his stars slashed their wages by 12.5 percent.

There are reports Arsenal, whose yearly wage bill is around £230 million ($286 million), will give players their money back in the event that they bridge an eight-point gap and qualify for the Champions League when football restarts.

The Premier League is suspended until at least April 30 while lockdown measures are in place in the United Kingdom until May 7, when the government is set to review the current restrictions in place.

Clubs expect to return to full training next month while Sky Sports said the league is looking at a potential restart in June with an eye on finishing the remaining nine rounds of fixtures in July, albeit without spectators in attendance.

All 20 teams will discuss the matter in a conference call.

Meanwhile, Premier League strugglers Norwich City have defended their decision to use the British government’s furlough scheme for 200 non-playing staff after the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With vast swathes of British industry shut down because of the coronavirus, the UK government launched a scheme that sees 80 percent of wages up to a maximum of £2,500 ($3,000) a month guaranteed during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

Norwich, who were bottom when the campaign was suspended, and Newcastle are the only Premier League clubs currently using the job retention scheme.

Bournemouth, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur performed U-turns due to a vocal backlash after initially announcing they too would take advantage of the scheme.

Norwich say the suspension of football will cost them between £18 million and £35 million.

“The decision we made was in the best interests of the club and its staff,” chief operating officer Ben Kensell told BBC Radio Norfolk.

“We’ve been very transparent that we’re run in a self-financed manner.”

Agencies