Chapter 592: Premier League Resumes Team Training Through Sacrificing Tom

From March 13th to today, May 10th, all players in the top five leagues have been forced to hide away at home.

Among them, the Premier League, which boasts the highest viewership, was postponed from its original date of April 10th to April 30th, then to May 15th, and now to June 17th.

Bad news: it has been delayed by a full three months.

Good news: judging by the current situation, the Premier League should truly be able to resume by the middle of next month!

Just one month left!

……

The Sun's New Coronavirus Column—Ten Hag recovers from the novel coronavirus; three Chelsea players infected, including Kante.

The Times front-page headline—The FA passes parliamentary discussion; starting May 20th, weekly wages for all Premier League players will be reduced by 30% until the league officially resumes.

"The resolution has currently passed in parliament, but it still requires the players' own consent; even with the support of the FA and UEFA, modifying salary clauses in player contracts remains extremely difficult."

The Sun—Ty and Dembele post photos, showing obvious upper-body muscles.

Caption: Keep it up! (Muscle) (Muscle) (Muscle)

Liverpool legend Carragher: After two months without any team training, players' conditions will inevitably be affected; therefore, before the league officially resumes, the Premier League should allow players to return to their teams for training.

To be honest, two months of home training have lacked any intensity; Rodri and Dembele even feel they are regressing the more they train.

This is because without coaches nearby to urge them on, nor senior players beside them applying pressure, the players' passion for training naturally declines.

However, Tang Ye is different.

This difference does not refer to training intensity, as everyone's training intensity is the same.

What differs is the training yield.

Before starting physical training, Tang Ye would buy a few props, using this method to achieve a decent training effect.

Tang Ye

【Ball Control: 90; Passing: 94】

【Shooting: 84; Heading: 63; Set Pieces: 90】

【Speed: 80; Stamina: 82; Physicality: 89】

【Defense: 77; Vision: 99】

Overall Rating: 92

Physicality rising from 87 to 89 can be said to be a very impressive increase, while Speed has also broken through the 80 threshold.

"I feel your strength has increased a lot,"

Rodri said, "And you've become faster too."

Tang Ye weighed himself this morning; he is now 74kg.

"Haha."

Tang Ye pinched his own flesh: "I feel we should go back to training; staying in the gym all the time is useless; I feel my speed can't improve any further."

Just as Tang Ye said, the effect of home training is truly limited.

His Speed reached 80 back in March, yet after training continuously until now in May, it is still 80, which is unbearably frustrating.

However, Tang Ye is actually doing relatively well; Dembele is the most outrageous, as the French forward's Speed and Stamina have both dropped, though his gaming skills have improved quite a bit.

"It's fine; we'll be able to train with the team soon."

Rodri shared his latest news with Tang Ye.

The Premier League officials are about to allow teams to train at their bases!

……

The Guardian front-page headline—The Premier League will conduct comprehensive novel coronavirus testing on league players, coaches, and staff, and plans to approve team training starting May 20th.

On May 17th, all Premier League players underwent novel coronavirus testing in preparation for the upcoming team training.

Regardless of the results, team training will begin on May 20th!

However, the results were not as optimistic as imagined.

The first round of novel coronavirus testing in the Premier League identified a total of 12 positive cases, including 3 Premier League players.

Of the 3 Premier League players who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, all 3 are from Manchester United.

Baidu Hot Search No. 1: Tang Ye infected with the novel coronavirus.

【6】

【It's finally happened, King Tang, boo hoo hoo】

【Tang Ye: Brothers, don't be afraid, it's no big deal, watch me self-heal】

【Actually, I feel getting infected now might be a good thing; after recovering, I can play in the league with immunity, and when everyone else gets infected, only King Tang will be fine】

【Tang Ye and Dembele really provide entertainment value, living together and getting infected together】

After the test results came out, news of Tang Ye's novel coronavirus infection immediately topped trending searches in various countries, dominating the charts for at least two days.

"Cough, cough!"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Tang Ye lay in bed while an attendant handed him Vitamin C and water.

Tang Ye had a bed table, upon which sat an open gaming laptop.

He was currently on a video call with Rodri; his little brother Luo De was in a similar situation.

"Cough, cough, Ro, Luo De, I can't make it..."

Leaning against the cushion, Tang Ye looked listless.

With his eyes closing and opening, he seemed to see his Great-Grandfather right before him.

Tang Tang Xianmin, wearing a Zhongshan suit, stroked Tang Ye's cheek: "Boy, you've lived long enough; come with Grandpa..."

Hiss!

Knowing this was an illusion, Tang Ye quickly shook his head.

No! No!

Sorry, Great-Grandfather, but I still have many friends here, so I cannot leave with you.

"Rod, how are you feeling?"

Tang Ye looked at Rod on the screen; Rod's condition seemed fairly good. While video-calling Tang Ye, he browsed news on his laptop: "I was at my worst for the first two days, but I'm okay now, just no sense of taste. It's fine, Tom; it'll be better in a few days."

"Cough, cough!"

Tang Ye could only smile bitterly; he was currently experiencing the most difficult stage: "I feel like someone is hacking my throat with a knife, and then I swallowed that knife."

"Haha!"

Rodri expressed admiration for Tang Ye's description: "You're too amazing, Tom."

"Stop with the amazing part; I'm in big trouble now. I feel my situation is definitely worse than yours, and by a lot."

Tang Ye now suffered not only from a sore throat but also from a sore lower back.

"Rod, if I die, could you come visit me once every year during the Qingming Festival?"

"Hey!"

Rodri found Tang Ye's antics somewhat amusing: "What is the Qingming Festival? Never mind, that's not the point. You're a damn professional athlete; how could anything happen to you? Cough, just lie down and you'll be fine!"

Tang Ye squinted his eyes, his mind hazy: "The Qingming Festival is when people go up the mountains to visit the dead. I want to be buried beside my home. Rod, remember to come see me then. Cough, cough."

"Haha, fuck!"

Through the video call, Rodri located Tang Ye's caregiver: "Ma'am, ma'am, take his temperature. Yes, that's right, thank you. I feel he's already been burned into a daze by the fever; give him something."

"Yes, yes, yes, his brain is very important; be careful."

May 20th was a special day.

Because starting from this afternoon, Premier League teams would begin gathering for training one after another.

The Premier League authorities had even issued specific regulations for this occasion, titled: "Premier League Team Training Epidemic Prevention Requirements."

1. Every player must maintain a social distance of at least two meters from each other.

2. In group training, each group must not exceed five players, and the duration must not exceed 75 minutes (to avoid myocarditis).

3. If any player becomes infected, all players, coaches, and staff members that the infected player has contacted must be isolated for at least seven days.

4. Training facilities must be disinfected daily, and personnel at the base must undergo virus testing no fewer than twice a week.

Under the protection of these four requirements, hundreds of top-league players were finally able to return to their bases.

In The Sun's YouTube live stream, the reporter wore a white face mask.

"As you can see, behind me right now is the Carrington Base; currently, the area around Carrington has been placed under closed management!"

Seemingly hoping to capture footage of players returning for training, the reporter's frame showed a gathering of many Manchester United fans wearing red jerseys; half wore masks, while the other half did not.

"According to feedback from fans on site, they just saw Rashford's Lamborghini enter the base; other players should also be on their way!"

The reporter randomly interviewed fans present at the scene.

"Many people believe that the Premier League's resumption of training was achieved by sacrificing Tom. What is your view on this perspective?"

"Tom will be fine."

A Manchester United fan shook his head: "I feel that everyone needs to get infected at least once; getting infected earlier would be better. I think the current situation no longer requires masks; the club should allow players to interact with us."

"The Premier League is expected to resume before June 20th; are you aware of this news?"

"Mm, I know."

The interviewed fan nodded: "The government not allowing spectators in the stands is a foolish move."

"We want to watch the matches live!"

Behind him, a Manchester United fan rushed forward and roared at the camera: "We are going to hold a parade; we are ready!"

"Watching the matches is our right!"

"..."

For many English people, football is a necessity of life, its status hardly lower than that of alcohol.

Asking an alcoholic to go three months without drinking—how is that any different from taking their lives?

"United!"

"United!"

"Man United!"

Front-page headline of The Sun: On the fourth day after testing positive, TY's infection symptoms had completely disappeared; he displayed his muscles to fans on his personal social media.

The Evening Standard: Manchester United believes that as long as no virus is detected in the second round of testing, TY, Dembélé, and Rodri can resume training.

Judging from the photos and videos released by Manchester United's official channels, apart from those three infected players, everyone else had already returned to training.

Additionally, Tang Ye was close as well; he now only needed to wait for the second unified league testing, and if the result was negative, he could rejoin the team.

However, Tang Ye was now encountering a problem.