Deeney's Decision to Stay Away Justified by Watford's Positive Tests

Troy Deeney: ‘It only takes one person to get infected within the group, and I don’t want to be bringing that home.’ Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images
Troy Deeney: ‘It only takes one person to get infected within the group, and I don’t want to be bringing that home.’ Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images
TT
20

Deeney's Decision to Stay Away Justified by Watford's Positive Tests

Troy Deeney: ‘It only takes one person to get infected within the group, and I don’t want to be bringing that home.’ Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images
Troy Deeney: ‘It only takes one person to get infected within the group, and I don’t want to be bringing that home.’ Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

This week Troy Deeney explained why he would not be returning to small-group training. He was concerned, he said, that black people are four times more likely to die from Covid-19 in the UK than the national average, and he needed to protect his five-month-old son, who has had breathing difficulties. “It only takes one person to get infected within the group, and I don’t want to be bringing that home,” he said.

His concerns were understandable, but at the time he seemed to be being perhaps a little overcautious. The number of excess deaths among BAME communities has not been fully explained, but people from ethnic minorities are overrepresented in many high-risk groups, such as those employed in critical industries including health, transport and essential retail businesses, those living in areas of high deprivation and in overcrowded homes, and those with certain relevant underlying health conditions. People from BAME backgrounds are more likely than average to be in poorly paid jobs, to be unable to work from home, and so to be forced for financial reasons to put themselves at risk of infection, or to be living with someone who is.

Deeney, however, is not. These numbers should not apply to him, or anyone with the space, the means and the inclination to cocoon themselves and their families. Most Premier League players should be as safe from infection as it is possible to be.

Then the Premier League tested 748 people, players and support staff at 19 top-flight clubs, and found that six had Covid-19. Three of those work at Watford, including the centre-back Aidy Mariappa. Six is a small enough number for the initial reaction to have been relief – our back-page headline declared that “just six test positive” – but in many ways this was a surprisingly hefty return.

It is just a snapshot, with a relatively small sample size, and thus a number of caveats must apply, but the fact that at least 0.8% of key playing and support staff at Premier League clubs had Covid-19 – eight weeks after the UK lockdown was imposed – is unexpected (and given the accuracy of swab testing the true figure could be higher). At Watford about 7.5% of those tested were positive, enough to make Deeney’s concerns look completely reasonable, perhaps even understated.

Last week the Office for National Statistics released provisional results of its infection survey, undertaken in partnership with the universities of Oxford and Manchester, Public Health England and the Wellcome Trust. Its conclusion was that outside of hospitals and care homes, between 27 April and 10 May around 148,000 people in England had Covid-19 at any one time, roughly 0.26% of the population. Its upper estimate was 222,000 people, or 0.41%. As the impact of the lockdown continues to be felt, and the impact of people being encouraged to return to work is yet to significantly hit, that figure should have decreased since.

Yet at Premier League clubs the figure from tests on Sunday and Monday was at the very least twice as big – equivalent, if mirrored across the country, to there being 451,500 people in England with Covid-19 – and closer to the 1.33% found by the ONS among those working in patient-facing healthcare or resident-facing social care roles, people whose jobs put them at the highest level of risk.

We already knew that three members of Brighton’s squad had tested positive for Covid-19. If they were among the 28 players who have been in three or more matchday squads this season, that would amount to 10.7% of the total. Even if no other players have had the virus without being tested or without testing positive, this would mean the Seagulls’ first team have endured an outbreak on a similar scale to that in Madrid or the estimated 10% of people in Lombardy, the focus of Italy’s coronavirus calamity, believed to have contracted the virus.

It is important not to get overexcited by small samples, to note that 16 of the 19 clubs tested on Monday produced no positive tests, and to acknowledge that testing positive does not necessarily mean that you have been hosting bunga bunga parties. “I’ve been scratching my head to try to work out how I might have got coronavirus,” Mariappa told the Telegraph. “It was a big surprise because I haven’t really left the house, apart from some exercise and the odd walk with the kids.”

This is a cruelly efficient virus, particularly skilled at insinuating itself into the bodies of even the most wary, and some or even all of the Premier League six may just have got unlucky. But it is certainly tempting to deduce from these numbers that either the virus remains more prevalent than we have been led to believe or that some players and coaches aren’t staying quite as alert as the government would like.

The Guardian Sport



Manchester United Defenders Yoro, Maguire Fit to Return

Soccer Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Arsenal v Manchester United - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - January 12, 2025 Manchester United's Leny Yoro comes on as a substitute to replace Harry Maguire REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo
Soccer Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Arsenal v Manchester United - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - January 12, 2025 Manchester United's Leny Yoro comes on as a substitute to replace Harry Maguire REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo
TT
20

Manchester United Defenders Yoro, Maguire Fit to Return

Soccer Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Arsenal v Manchester United - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - January 12, 2025 Manchester United's Leny Yoro comes on as a substitute to replace Harry Maguire REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo
Soccer Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Arsenal v Manchester United - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - January 12, 2025 Manchester United's Leny Yoro comes on as a substitute to replace Harry Maguire REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo

Manchester United defenders Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro will be back in the squad when the club's Premier League campaign resumes at high-flying Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.

England's Maguire missed United's last two league matches with a calf problem ahead of the international break and French teenager Yoro had a foot injury.

"Maguire is ready to go to the game and Yoro," manager Ruben Amorim told reporters on Monday.

The Portuguese also delivered good news on defender Ayden Heaven, who joined United from Arsenal in January but was carried off during his first start two weeks ago, according to Reuters.

"It is not so serious. (Heaven) is recovering. He is not yet ready to play but he will return this season, for sure," Amorim said.

Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo have returned to training but are not fit enough to play.

"(Shaw is) starting to do some drills with the team but we are building Luke," the coach said. "Kobbie is almost ready, Jonny (Evans) is recovering."

STIFF TEST

United, 13th in the table, are unbeaten in their last four league games, but face a stiff test against third-placed Forest who are within sight of a Champions League spot with a return to Europe's top club competition for the first time in 45 years.

Forest played 120 minutes in an FA Cup quarter-final win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday while United are coming off a 15-day break.

"Of course, Nuno (Espirito Santo, Forest's manager) will say that it was better to have more time to prepare the game, and I can say that that's a long, long time in the good moment without games," Amorim said.

"But they played that cup stage, they won, and that is really important to recover players. So the environment will be really nice, they are doing amazing."

Amorim had little to say about Marcus Rashford's performance since joining Aston Villa on loan from United, and scoring his first two goals for his new team in a 3-0 win over second-tier Preston North End to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.

"We have a lot of games to play and I am focused on my team and my players and Rashford is not my player at the moment," Amorim said.

"But every player that performs well on loan is good news for my club so we are happy with that."

FERNANDES STAYING

The Portuguese coach also United captain Bruno Fernandes will not be allowed to leave the club at the end of the season.

The 30-year-old Fernandes, who last year signed a contract extension until 2027, has recently been linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

"No, it's not going to happen. He's not going anywhere because I've already told him," Amorim said of the midfielder.

"We want the best players to continue with us. He's (30) ... but he's still so young because he plays 50, 55 games every season.

"Between assists and goals, he's there for 30 (of them), at least. So he's the type of player that we want here, he's not going anywhere."

Fernandes has scored 16 goals and registered 15 assists in 44 appearances across all competitions for United this season.