'What if player catches virus?' - Insurance issues likely to be stumbling block before resumption of Premier League

The FA, Premier League and UEFA are all gearing up for the return of live football after the postponement of almost all the leagues and tournaments amid COVID-19 pandemic. However, as former Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur director of football Damien Comolli reckons players will face an insurance issue if they contract coronavirus after the resumption of play.

Premier League is determined to finish the halted 2019/20 season, however, players can raise some valid questions in relation to their safety and well-being given they don’t have COVID-19 clause in their current insurances.

“Sorry if I’m being dramatic but let’s assume the Premier League starts and suddenly (a player) catches the virus and then dies or gets severe lung damage and he can’t play football anymore, what’s going to happen?” Comolli said a leading British news portal.

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“Is the player going to say my contract ended on June 30, you forced me to play?”

Comolli further said that the transfer window could be extremely different with drop-in players’ price inevitable. He reckons there will be more loan and swap deals after the summer transfer window opens.

“An agent was saying the other day only three clubs in the Premier League will be able to spend money. If that’s the case I think the transfer window will be very different.

“We might see swaps, we might see loans and we are going to a see a massive decrease in transfer fees and activity – at least transfers involving money.

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“The more this crisis goes on and the clubs are in a difficult situation financially, the first thing that will be impacted will be player remuneration and the second thing will be transfer fees.

“I think it’ll be very difficult not to finish the season for a lot of different reasons, one is financial but as an industry football has a duty to entertain.

Comolli is of the view that the entire year of 2020 could be played behind closed doors amid the COVID-19 pandemic while adding that resumption of live football would be something positive for everyone.

“Now it is not the right thing to talk about it but we have a duty to fans, they want something else at night or during the day to think about, other than the virus and the issues. I think it’d be something positive.

“Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if we couldn’t play with any fans until the end of 2020.”