Sheffield Wednesday have no quarantine concerns with their overseas contingent ready to train

The Football League board are meeting on Wednesday to discuss if its clubs should be allowed to resume group training, as the Premier League sides did on Tuesday. If they decide to do so, it is likely to happen as quickly as Monday of next week.

With such a short turnaround, and with quarantines set to be imposed on those arriving in the country from overseas, the Owls ordered their players based overseas back so they can be ready to go if required.

“They’re already back in Sheffield, so there's no one abroad now,” confirmed manager Garry Monk. “This is the first time we’ve been given more of a definite guideline (to prepare for training to restart on May 25) so we've made sure that they’re all back in Sheffield.

“There's no quarantine or anything like that that they need to do, so yeah, they’ll be ready to go with everyone else.”

Time will be of the essence if the Football League is to meet its target of completing the 2019-20 season, including the play-offs, by July 31 at the latest.

With all Championship teams having nine matches to play, the aim is to spread them across five weekends and the midweeks inbetween.

At Premier League and Football League level there has been much discussion recently about how much time players need to prepare for the return of the 2019-20 season having not played since the first full weekend in March. Germany's Bundesliga resumed at the weekend after around five weeks' training, and it appears this is becoming a benchmark for many.

The League does not believe it is feasible to play after July 31 because of the contractual difficulties it will cause.

The Owls have 10 senior players out of contract on June 30, and a further five on loan. Because players receive one-month severance pay if they fail to find another club in July, the hope is that this can be used to get an extra 31 days out of them.

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