Chelsea have informed their players currently abroad in their home countries to return to the UK this weekend, according to ESPN and The Telegraph. With the Premier League’s Project Restart taking shape, teams must start preparing.
Chelsea Recall Players Abroad Ahead of Premier League Restart
Players Return Quickly
The Blues, like several clubs, allowed players to travel back home to be close to family when the Coronavirus stoppage hit. Willian travelled back to Brazil. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Marcos Alonso, and Pedro all returned to Spain. And Christian Pulisic flew home to the United States. Reports also say Emerson Palmieri needs to return to the UK as well.
Now, they need to find a way back to England. And quickly.
Players will likely have to go into quarantine for 14 days upon returning to the UK. Only after that will they be able to return to training, assuming Project Restart and other Coronavirus issues go smoothly. Coming back this weekend and self-isolating for two weeks brings the currently abroad players right up to the intended date to restart training on May 11th.
Some Premier League clubs opened up their training facilities this week for individual training with strict hygiene rules, of course. The plan from the league, as of now, is to get back to full training by May 18th and a league restart on June 8th.
Chelsea want their players back as soon as possible to ensure the full squad is ready to train and then restart the season.
League Return Soon?
All of this hinges on the UK government and what they allow. In France, they banned large gatherings until September which ended up cancelling the remainder of Ligue 1. In Holland, the government extended the lockdown until September as well, putting the kibosh on the Eredivisie‘s season.
The same could most certainly happen with the Premier League. However, that seems unlikely. Project Restart seems to have the government’s support in an attempt to lift national morale.
If that is indeed the case, then the league will return quickly. The Premier League intends to meet Friday to discuss the state of the league and the restart, such as matches behind closed doors, neutral sites, and more. And government officials will likely weigh in, or at least have their opinions included in absentia.
While it isn’t a foregone conclusion yet, the Premier League appears on course for a return in just over a month from now.
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