'It is a concern' - Third Brighton player tests positive despite coronavirus safety measures

A third player at Brighton has tested positive for the coronavirus, chief executive Paul Barber has confirmed.

Barber admits the news is “a concern”, and has called on the Premier League to deliver a detailed plan on the stages of how they want to resume the league season.

The Seagulls chief recently criticised plans to play out the rest of the campaign behind closed doors, questioning the league’s apparent belief that not every club would be able to provide a safe environment for players and staff.

"It is a concern," Barber told Sky Sports as the news was confirmed.

"Unfortunately we've had a third player test positive yesterday (Saturday, May 9), so despite all of the measures that we've been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven't been involved in any significant training at all, we've still suffered another player testing positive for the virus.

"So there are concerns and I think it's normal for all clubs to have those concerns. We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure those protocols are in place and are safe and secure and mitigate the risk as far as we can."

The Premier League is currently working on plans to resume the league campaign behind closed doors, but questions about the viability of ‘Project Restart’ remain.

In Germany, the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga are set to resume on May 16th.

However, second-division side Dynamo Dresden have announced they will not be able to fulfil their first fixture back against Hannover as, following two positive tests within their squad, they have placed their entire first-team squad under a two-week lockdown.

Barber wants to know precisely what the Premier League intends to do to get players back on the pitch without endangering their safety.

"One of the things we've asked the Premier League for is a complete plan of all of the stages of returning to play," he added.

"First, we need to get players back training in small groups, then they need to get involved in some contact training and then training for a match before the match itself.

"So, there are lots of stages, it's very complex and there are people at the Premier League working very hard to produce detailed paperwork to move through those stages as safely as possible."

Brighton have received support from Norwich defender Todd Cantwell, who tweeted: "We are just people too."