Majority of Players Are Scared of Returning to Football Amid Covid-19, Says Sergio Aguero

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero said that players are uncomfortable with the idea of returning to football too soon with the coronavirus pandemic still wrecking havoc with the world.

Premier League is determined to finish the 2019-20 season and is planning to get back to action and complete the remaining 92 games behind closed doors.

However, a recent study said that elite athletes have high chances of catching the virus from air particles due to their strenuous exercise regime and can transfer it to the lower parts of their lungs. Furthermore, if the players are asymptomatic, they have high probability of exhaling virus particles, which will then be inhaled by others.

Even FIFA chief medical offer did not find it advisable to begin competitive football anytime soon.

"The majority of players are scared because they have family, they have children, they have babies, parents," Aguero told Spanish TV programme El Chiringuito.

"It does scare me but I have just been here with my girlfriend, I haven't had contact with other people and they say that to contract the disease is very rare and difficult but they say that there are people who have it, and they don't have symptoms and they can infect you.

"That's why I've stayed at home. You can be infected and you don't know anything about it."

Despite the general fears around Covid-19 and its impact, UEFA doctor feels that competitive football can be played as lockdown eases in the European nations.

City manager Pep Guardiola and at least eight of his first-team players could face 14 days of mandatory self-quarantine when they return to Britain for the resumption of matches. Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Ederson, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and David Silva are among those to have left the country during the lockdown.

Premier League plans also include testing all players and officials at least 48 hours before returning to training and they will also be tested for any respiratory trouble related to Covid-19.

Here are some more proposals:

1. All footballs, global positioning system [GPS] units, cones, corner flags, goalposts and other equipment to be disinfected before and after use by staff wearing personal protective equipment [PPE]
2. Players to wear snood/masks at all times
3. Cars to be parked three spaces apart
4. No massages unless approved by club doctor
5. Fluids to be left at designated pick-up points
6. Only visit training block to use toilet
7. Initially only five players per training group
8. Players to be given designated time slots and 15 minutes to prepare
9. 75 minutes of small group training
10. 15 minutes' recovery
11. Players and staff will be banned from spitting at the training ground