NAPOLI are set to allow their players to return to training next Wednesday despite coronavirus warnings from Italy’s biggest footballers’ union.
The Italian Footballers Association says player health could be put in danger if clubs start training before the April 3 end date of Italy’s nationwide lockdown.
Napoli officials want their players to return to training on Wednesday despite coronavirus warnings from the Italian Footballers AssociationCredit: Getty
The coronavirus crisis has seen the country go into a mandatory lockdown, enforced by its army, with its virus-related death toll now surpassing China’s.
Italy announced 627 more deaths on Friday, the biggest daily increase in the country’s four-week epidemic.
And on Friday night Football Italia claim Napoli officials announced their stars will return for a morning training session next Wednesday.
On the Italian Footballers’ Association’s web site, their chief Damiano Tomassi said: “Training now, before the championship resumes, doesn’t make sense. It’s also dangerous.
“I say this without wanting to create controversy because this is not the moment to spark it.
“I find it better to say that we won’t recover until a certain date, rather than indicating a certain day.
“Whoever thinks of benefitting by training their team, I don’t know what they have in their minds.”
April 3 is the last day of the Italian government’s lockdown of the entire nation.
Blues president Aurelio De Laurentiis and his Lazio counterpart Claudio Lotito are reported to be the only two Serie A club chiefs who want their teams to resume training before April 4.
It’s claimed their demands caused a spat between them and Juventus President Andrea Agnelli last week.
Napoli had won three of their last six matches before Serie A matches were suspended.
Football Italia say games are unlikely to be played until early May depending on the situation in Italy.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
