Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has urged the Premier League not to start until the dreaded coronavirus is ‘taken off this world’, according to a report in the Mirror.
All Premier League football was suspended last month with growing health concerns arising from the widespread effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also contracted the deadly virus but has since made a recovery. The club’s players also went into quarantine following Arteta’s contraction of the virus but according to reports, the players came out of the quarantine without being infected.
Arsenal’s French midfielder Guendouzi has now spoken out regarding his stance on the resumption of football amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Gunners midfielder, football should not resume until the coronavirus has been completely eradicated.
Speaking to French news outlet TF1 as quoted by the Mirror, Guendouzi said:
“For me, what I think is most important is to not start things up again, no games, no training, until this epidemic stops.”
“What’s most important is everybody’s health, and not just in the football world, but in the medical world and the world in general. That’s really what’s most important.”
“I’m in favour of nothing starting up again until this virus is taken off this world.”
“For now, the orders have been clear,”
“There’s nothing at all. No training, no games, and not for a while.”
“We know the United Kingdom took measures a bit after France, which means this period is starting to be very difficult here.”
“There’s a lot of people who are starting to die from this virus. I don’t know if we’re at the start or just in the middle, but we know it’s not the end of this virus, so we know it’s not going to start back up just yet.”
At the moment the Premier League remains suspended across England and the UK government has imposed strict social distancing rules during this epidemic. Whether the 2019/20 season finishes remains to be seen.