90min

Napoli Set to Return to Training Next Wednesday Despite Warnings From the AIC

By James Cormack

facebooktwitterreddit

​Napoli are set to return to training next week, going against the wishes of the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) President Damiano Tommasi.

With the fatalities continuing to surge in Italy - now the world's hardest-hit country by the coronavirus - it looks increasingly unlikely that Serie A football will return anytime soon. A potential return in early May currently looks rather optimistic. 

Nevertheless, Napoli have recently announced that they'll be returning to training at the Castel Volturno for a morning session on the 25 March, despite calls from the AIC for clubs not to return to training until at least 4 April - with April 3 being the final day of the current 'lockdown' in the country.

Football Italia has reported that I Partenopei President Aurelio De Laurentiis is keen for the club to return to normality before the April 4 date, with Lazio patron Claudio Lotito also in favour of a swifter return. 

The majority of Italian clubs, however, are willing to respect the current law put in place by the Italian government, and it's believed that the aforementioned pair's demands were a source of tension in the league meeting last week. 

Speaking to the AIC website, President Tommasi also believes it would be "dangerous" for training to resume before April 4.

The former Roma player added: “I hope that soon we can return to play because football will be a thermometer of society. When the ball starts moving again, we will almost be out of this nightmare.

“I find it better to say that we won’t recover until a certain date, rather than indicating a certain day.

“Whoever thinks of benefitting by training their team, I don’t know what they have in their minds.

“I say this without wanting to create controversy because this is not the moment to spark it. Training now, before the championship resumes, doesn’t make sense. It’s also dangerous.

“We are in direct contact with infected players and with our medical consultants. We are asking ourselves the issue of the consequences that this virus will leave on the bodies of the infected and those with symptoms.

“It’s not something to underestimate.”

Despite the warnings, both Lazio and Napoli seem determined to return to training next week - with the former set to resume on Monday and the latter two days later.