Premier League Considering Plan to Resume Play in June & Start Next Season on Time
By Tom Gott
The Premier League are giving serious consideration to a plan which would see the current campaign resume on 1 June and still allow the 2020/21 season to start on time.
After postponing the season due to the coronavirus outbreak, the initial plan for English football was to return on 4 April, but that has since been pushed back to 30 April amid fears that the country will simply not be safe enough to resume.
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League officials are determined to complete the current season, but The Telegraph note that there is an acceptance that playing any football before June is highly unlikely.
As a result, this proposal would see matches return on June 1 and be played behind closed doors over the next six weeks, which would see the season finish sometime around the 11 July mark and allow the 2020/21 campaign to start on 8 August.
The upside of this plan is that it would satisfy any pre-existing contracts with broadcasters like BT Sport and Sky - both in relation to this season and next - so there would be no financial hit for any top-flight sides.
However, with this proposal there is the issue of expiring player contracts to address. There are 68 players who will be out of contract on June 30, including the likes of Chelsea's Willian and Tottenham's Jan Vertonghen, so they would be under no legal obligation to finish the season if it runs past that date.
Clubs do have the option to activate an emergency 28-day extension in a player's contract, but both parties would have to agree to do so. If either the club or the player says no, then the deal is off.
Fortunately, clubs are not thought to see this as a major issue, and FIFA have promised to step in and intervene if any side finds themselves struggling to make up the numbers.
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Southampton chief executive Martin Semmens told BBC Radio Solent: “We hope to get the league done by the end of June and that would be easier for everybody. As soon as you go past that date there are then those legal challenges and issues that we have to fulfil.
“But if we end up playing until 15 July and you had to extend a player’s contract by two weeks, I don’t believe that will be a substantial challenge to try and convince a player to play two more weeks' football.
"I just don’t think - when you look at all the challenges the country is facing right now – to get paid very nicely to do it before he moves to a new club [would be difficult].”