Villa’s Mings says Premier League return driven by finance

LONDON: Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings says players were the “last to be consulted” over the Premier League’s “financially driven” plan to restart in June.

The English top-flight is scheduled to resume on June 17 after being suspended since March due to the coronavirus.

But Mings is adamant players should have had more say over the return to training and imminent match action amid the continued threat of the pandemic.

He believes the decision is motivated by fear of losing millions if the Premier League did not finish the current campaign.

Mings is the latest Premier League player to express concern about the restart after Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, Newcastle’s Danny Rose and Watford’s Troy Deeney. “The motives are possibly 100 percent financially driven rather than integrity driven,” Mings told the Mail on Sunday.

“Project Restart is financially driven. I think everybody accepts that.

“I am all for playing again because we have no other choice. As players, we were the last people to be consulted about Project Restart and that is because of where we fall in football’s order of priority. That isn’t a problem. “We got the option to come back to training and that’s fine because we didn’t have to.

“But if the FA and the EFL and the government and UEFA and the Premier League all say you are going back to play, it really doesn’t make any difference what the players think because you are going back to play. It is get in or get out.”