Several more Watford stars are refusing to train after the club provided three of the six positive coronavirus cases in the Premier League.
Troy Deeney said he would not be reporting for training on Tuesday as he did not feel safe to return amid concerns for his son’s health, who has had issues with breathing, and over the risk of catching the virus to BAME males.
Premier League players and staff underwent testing over Sunday and Monday at their bases before returning to training and six results came back positive from a total of 748 tests.
More players have now joined Deeney’s stance after they were informed on Tuesday that one player and two members of the club’s staff were diagnosed with the virus.
Those who have been infected are believed to be doing well and will now spend the next seven days in self-isolation.
Watford, who are thought to believe that the decision to return to training has been rushed, are following all the guidelines and will proceed with training despite more players voicing worries about their safety.
Speaking about his concerns to Eddie Hearn and Tony Bellew on the Talk the Talk YouTube show, Deeney said: ‘We’re due back in this week, I’ve said I’m not going in.
‘It only takes one person to get infected within the group and I don’t want to be bringing that home.
‘My son is only five months old, he had breathing difficulties, so I don’t want to come home to put him in more danger.’
He added: ‘For black, Asian and mixed ethnicities, they’re four times more likely to get the illness, they’re twice as likely to have long-lasting illnesses — is there anything extra, additional screening, heart stuff to see if people have got problems with that? No. OK, well I feel that should be addressed.
‘I can’t get a haircut until mid-July but I can go and get in a box with 19 people and go and jump for a header and nobody could answer the questions, not because they didn’t want to, just because they don’t know the information.
‘So I said, if you don’t know the information, why would I put myself at risk?’
