EPL club suggests finishing the campaign in China amid £762m bills

One Premier League club has reportedly put forward the extreme idea of finishing out the current campaign in China.

Premier League executives from all 20 clubs are preparing for a showdown video conference on Friday afternoon, but there are growing concerns that football authorities will be unable to formulate a plan to salvage the season.

And according to the Athletic, as the top-flight desperately scrambles to finish the season, one club has even suggested exploring the feasibility of completing it over 5,000 miles away.

This idea is reportedly based on examining the spread of coronavirus and looking at regions where it would be considered safe on health grounds to resume football and feasible in terms of infrastructure to stage the Premier League.

And China, who have taken positive steps on the path to recovery since the first global outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan in late December last year, was raised as a potential destination.

The report claims that the outlandish idea was of the view that it would take the pressure and strain off the NHS and free up Premier League facilities so that they can be used by emergency services and local authorities.

As Sportsmail can reveal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are in talks over how they can help the NHS with Premier League grounds set to be used as auxiliary hospitals.

However, ahead of Friday’s crunch meeting – which is also set to discuss Premier League stars’ failure to agree to a wage deferral scheme so far – other clubs have already opposed the idea.

One club’s chief executive told the Athletic: ‘The country that keeps getting proposed is China. It just doesn’t make any sense. It is a crazy idea and I think it will get firmly rejected.

‘If we were to pick up the Premier League and move it to another part of world right now we’d get absolutely slaughtered.

‘Somebody accused us the other day of being in a bubble. I feel a little bit like they are right at the moment – even though I am not, I can see why people think we are.’

Another Premier League club director emphatically said: ‘It’s just a waste of energy. Let’s just say we all want to start the league and life. Unfortunately only God and the pandemic can make this decision. And it does not look likely.’

It was claimed earlier in the week that other executives had contemplated a World Cup style tournament in one country where clubs would stay in hotels and complete matches behind closed doors at neutral venues. However, this idea is viewed as impractical in reality.

Many different proposals have been thrown up in recent times as to the best way to complete the season, which has been suspended until April 30 – but doesn’t seem like a realistic target.

One of them was to play all of the remaining 92 matches behind closed doors with every game shown live on TV.

The matches would also be played at two or three neutral venues, most likely in the Midlands, at different times.

Meanwhile, a festival of football, fitting games into a hectic schedule, has been mooted but no one is any the wiser about what will happen in the future amid the coronavirus crisis.

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Football authorities are desperately searching for ways to get the season back on track with so much still to play for.
Liverpool’s title procession still needs to be finalised, while European spots, relegation and promotion must be determined.

However, it’s not just on the pitch that matters will concern the Premier League.

The projected cost of lost broadcast revenue to the Premier League, should the season fail to be completed, was recently revealed.

It was reported that the total outlay would be £762million if the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2019-20 campaign.

This gargantuan sum would be because of a breach in contract terms agreed for domestic and international rights.