The Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has said it “would not sit well” with him if Premier League players and staff receive Covid-19 tests while frontline health workers cannot access them.
Speaking on BT Sport, Lampard added that he wants professional football to return, but that player and staff safety must be the priority. The 41-year-old added that “there are many conversations” to be had, including around player contracts, before the season can resume.
“The health and safety of players and staff is huge,” Lampard said. “We play a contact sport we’re all desperate to see – it’s a form of escapism, to watch football, play and train – but how are we not going to put the players at risk within that?”
“The other issue is testing,” Lampard told presenter Jake Humphrey. “We will probably have a minimum of 70 or 80 staff at Cobham [Chelsea’s training ground] if we’re going to restart training. It’s right that we test regularly, but when we’re looking around the world … I think it’s important for football to take its place.
“I don’t know the testing numbers for NHS and care workers, people who are doing these incredible jobs over the last two months,” Lampard said. “I don’t think it would sit well, not just with me, but with anybody, if we didn’t make sure that people who are in that frontline are getting tested.”
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Football on BT Sport
(@btsportfootball)“When we look around the world, it doesn’t sit well with me if people on the frontline aren’t getting tested.”
Frank Lampard is open to football resuming but if testing 70/80 at the training ground takes away from those in need he wouldn’t be too keen…#EarlyKickOff pic.twitter.com/YRCevImTfE
May 2, 2020
On Thursday, the Guardian reported that the Premier League is set to invest in Covid-19 testing machines that cost £36,000 each and can test seven employees per day. There is little demand for these particular machines from the NHS due to costs involved.
Lampard, whose Chelsea side sit fourth in the suspended Premier League table, also said players and managers are yet to discuss safety guidelines with league officials. The Premier League issued a statement after the latest round of talks on Friday, but Lampard said it “didn’t say that much practically. There are a lot of unknowns at the moment.”
“I’m in contact with [Chelsea chairman] Bruce Buck, who goes to the meetings and we speak regularly,” Lampard said. “The things I welcomed [from Friday’s meeting] were that player and staff health and safety will come first, and the fact they’re going to have conversations with players and managers, because that hasn’t really happened yet.”
Lampard also raised concerns about “football integrity issues”, including playing games at neutral venues and resolving the issue of out-of-contract players. “We have a couple of major players [out of contract in June],” Lampard said, referring to Willian and Olivier Giroud. “There are many conversations [to be had], and I think that’s very clear at the minute.”