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Danny Rose says Premier League players being treated like 'lab rats' in Project Restart

Rose: "I could be potentially risking my health for people's entertainment and that's not something I want to be involved in if I'm honest"

Danny Rose
Image: Danny Rose has criticised the Premier League's plans to resume the season next month

Danny Rose believes Premier League footballers are being treated like "lab rats" in Project Restart.

The Tottenham defender, currently on loan at Newcastle, has criticised the decision to allow training to resume in the top flight, after testing revealed six positive coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

A number of Premier League players have voiced their concerns over the plan to restart the season next month and Rose believes footballers are risking their health by returning to training.

Speaking on the Lockdown Tactics podcast, Rose said: "I'm dying to get back to football but just with the things that are happening right now, people are going through this coronavirus pandemic a lot worse than me, I don't want to be complaining about everything.

"Just off the fact that people are suggesting we should go back to football, like we're guinea pigs or lab rats. We're going to experiment this phase and see if it works or not.

Newcastle signed Rose from Tottenham until the end of the season
Image: Rose believes players are being treated like 'guinea pigs' and 'lab rats' in Project Restart

"I can just imagine people at home saying, 'Well they earn that amount of money so they should be going back'.

"For stuff like that I think is it worth the hassle? I could be potentially risking my health for people's entertainment and that's not something I want to be involved in if I'm honest."

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A Watford player and two members of non-playing staff were among the six positive tests for coronavirus in the first round of Premier League testing.

The club confirmed the news on Tuesday evening after Burnley had earlier said assistant manager Ian Woan tested positive on Sunday.

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Sky Sports News' chief reporter Bryan Swanson confirms six individuals at three clubs of the 19 tested so far have produced positive coronavirus results

Watford captain Troy Deeney has refused to return to training amid concerns for his son's health and the potentially increased risk to BAME players.

"We're due back in this week. I've said I'm not going in. It's nothing to do with financial gain," Deeney said on Eddie Hearn and Tony Bellew's Talk The Talk podcast.

"When I go into full detail about my personal situation, everyone here will go 'no problem'.

"My son is five months and he's had breathing difficulties. I don't want to come home and put him in more danger."

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