Kante opts to miss Chelsea training

N’Golo Kante was allowed to miss training on Wednesday

Chelsea gave N’Golo Kante permission to miss training on Wednesday after the midfielder expressed safety concerns over a return amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 29-year-old returned to training at Cobham on Tuesday, the first day Premier League clubs were allowed to resume small group sessions, but decided against training again on Wednesday.

Kante lost his older brother to a heart attack just weeks before the World Cup in 2018, while a few months earlier the player himself fainted in training before being given a clean bill of health.

Watford captain Troy Deeney is also skipping training over concerns for his son’s health, as well as that of BAME players.

The Professional Footballers’ Association has asked the Premier League to conduct further research into the effect of coronavirus on players from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Data from the Office of National Statistics suggests black men and women are almost twice as likely to die from coronavirus compared to non-whites, even when factors such as health, disability, household composition and area deprivation are taken into account.

Deeney’s team-mate Adrian Mariappa was one of six positive results to come back from an initial batch of 748 tests covering both Premier League players and non-playing staff, with two members of Watford staff and Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan also testing positive.

More to follow…

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