Coronavirus: Third Albion player tests positive

Sunday, 10 May 2020 16:49

A third Brighton & Hove Albion player has tested positive for coronavirus, chief executive Paul Barber has confirmed. It was confirmed in March that a Brighton player had tested positive after three members of the squad had previously shown Covid-19 symptoms. Speaking to Sky Sports, Barber confirmed a third member of the first-team group has produced a positive test despite strict safety guidelines remaining in place. 'It is a concern,' he said. 'Unfortunately we've had a third player test positive yesterday (Saturday, May 9), so despite all of the measures that we've been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven't been involved in any significant training at all, we've still suffered another player testing positive for the virus. So there are concerns and I think it's normal for all clubs to have those concerns. We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure those protocols are in place and are safe and secure and mitigate the risk as far as we can.' Barber, who is a vocal opponent of playing Premier League matches at neutral venues when the season is resumed, believes the most important next step will be the delivery of a framework from the league about how clubs should structure their training schedules. 'One of the things we've asked the Premier League for is a complete plan of all of the stages of returning to play,' Barber said. 'First we need to get players back training in small groups, then they need to get involved in some contact training and then training for a match before the match itself. 'So there are lots of stages, it's very complex and there are people at the Premier League working very hard to produce detailed paperwork to move through those stages as safely as possible'. When football was postponed eight weeks ago, the Albion stood 15th in the Premier League table - two points and three places above the relegation zone.