Pour Martin Hermann
LONDON (Reuters) – Some English league teams may consider the vaccination status of potential recruits when they look to strengthen their squads in the January transfer window, as a surge in Covid-19 cases raises fears of a streak. Postponed.
Aston Villa coach Steven Gerrard and Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira said on Tuesday that vaccination status could be considered in the decision-making process.
Following a record 42 cases of Covid-19 among players and club delegations over the past week, just ahead of Manchester United’s game against Manchester United, the English league announced on Monday it was re-evaluating “emergency measures”. Is. Brentford is being canceled due to an outbreak in the Old Trafford team.
Gerrard, whose team also had players and staff members with Covid this week, told British media on Monday that Villa’s painstaking recruitment process means the status of vaccinations can be considered when talking to potential recruits.
Gerard said, “We’ve looked at everything. So I’m sure the matter will come to light.” His team visits Norwich City on Tuesday.
“But of course we will when we decide that a certain person is the one who can come and make us better.”
Vieira said clubs needed to find “solutions” and the possibility of an unaffiliated player being absent for 10 days due to the Covid-19 isolation rules could be taken into account in new indications.
“But I don’t think that will be the definitive criterion for signing a player or not,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
English football’s elite are in the midst of the busiest period of the season, with teams competing in the English League Cup at least twice a week during the first week of January, and further cancellations could create a backlog of games.
United’s game against Brentford was the second to be postponed this season due to COVID-19, when Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion was canceled over the weekend.
Tottenham’s outbreak has led to the cancellation of their home clash with Stade René in the UEFA Conference League last week.
Leicester City, Brighton, Norwich City and Villa have also reported cases now that the Micron variant is spreading in the UK.
Clubs are looking at full stadiums again this season after playing almost the entire previous campaign and part of the previous one in front of empty stands or with limited spectators since the pandemic began in March 2020.
(Por Shreevats Sridhar and Rohit Nair, them Bengaluru, and Martin Harman, them London)
Copyright © Thomson Reuters.
