Chris Wilder has spoken about coronavirus testing at Sheffield United after Watford confirmed they have three positive cases.
A total of 748 tests were carried out over the past few days at 19 of the Premier League clubs. This is ahead of players returning to non-contact training in groups of up to five on Tuesday.
Norwich City were the final club to conduct their tests, doing so yesterday.
Watford have since confirmed that three of those six positive cases were one of their players and two of their staff. Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan is another who tested positive.
BBC Sport reports that the other two occurred at a third unnamed club. Several other teams have previously confirmed cases, including Arsenal, Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea.
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The six people who tested positive are now self-isolating for seven days.
Sheffield United and coronavirus testing
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Wilder and the Blades have remained consistent in their public support of the Premier League’s decisions surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
This return to training is part of ‘Project Restart’. The plan is for English top flight fixtures to resume on June 12, although that date is flexible and could be pushed back further.
Watford captain Troy Deeney had already made it clear he would not be returning to training before the club announced their positive tests. This is because of concerns for his five-month-old son, who has breathing difficulties.
Deeney is far from the only player to have expressed their worry about football coming back. Danny Rose and Raheem Sterling have also been vocal with their criticism.
As yet there has been no such voice from Bramall Lane. Now Wilder has spoken openly about the situation at the Blades.
“A lot of people were tested on Tuesday. The signs are encouraging,” the 52-year-old told The Football Show on Sky Sports.
“What the Premier League has gone through to put the amount of detail into the protocol of testing twice a week, it has been very thorough.
“A lot of hard work has gone in at our football club – coaches, medical staff, doctors – and people in and around the football club are making sure this runs as smooth as possible and that we get through these baby steps of returning to training.
“There are obvious challenges. Our situation is a bit more difficult in terms of the standard of our training ground compared to the team that have been in the Premier League for five or 10 years.”
