Many
more players will withdraw from Premier League training and could create an
"unfair competition", Jamie Redknapp told
The Football Show.
Troy Deeney and N'Golo Kante are the only two players staying away from
their clubs out of choice since Premier League sides restarted training
earlier this week, with both concerned about the health risks of a return to
work.
After speaking to a number of managers about the subject, Redknapp said he
expected others to follow suit before the league's tentative June 12 target
for its first round of fixtures, and thinks this could begin to affect the
integrity of the domestic top flight.
"I've spoken to managers, there's a lot more to come out that just don't
feel right about it," he said. "That's going to be a major problem. If
you've got a squad of 22, 23 players and six or seven are not comfortable,
they think they're putting their families at risk, how is that a fair
competition? It becomes a real Premier League problem. It doesn't become
fair.
"Some managers have come out now and said it's going to be a fair situation
no matter what happens, but if you're going to lose three or four players,
and Troy Deeney's the captain of Watford, that's not a fair competition.
"I do think it's going to get harder and harder, I think you're going to see
more players coming out and saying they're not sure about playing, they're
not sure about what's going on. So you've just got to take each incident in
isolation."
Players nervous to come forward?
Redknapp, who played Premier League football from 1992 to 2005, said he
would have agreed to any demand to return to the training ground as a player
but, even in an increased era of player welfare, that some would still be
nervous about being seen to go against their clubs' wishes.
"It's so difficult for players right now," he said, "a lot of them are keen
to come and get started, but there will be others like N'Golo Kante who are
nervous, and are looking at underlying health problems, and believe if they
come back and give the virus to someone, how would they feel about that
going forward?
"If he says he doesn't want to play, I think Frank Lampard would be the
first to say that's fine, but there will be a lot of players who are nervous
to say they're not comfortable because they're worried about the
repercussions, people who'll say you should play, you should be out there,
you earn this much money.
"Of course, safety is paramount right now. But I do get it, it's such an
unprecedented, difficult situation for players right now. I try to put
myself in their shoes and say what would I do? In my era, I would've just
done as I was told. If a manager says turn up for training, you do it.
"Players now have more of an understanding, more of a voice, they have
agents who can help them in this situation, and it's a lot easier for
players in a situation like this to say they don't feel right."
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