Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor says footballers do not want to be seen as "guinea pigs" when it comes to the potential return of the sport.
All professional football in England has been suspended since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic that has led to the deaths of 32,692 people in the United Kingdom alone as of Tuesday.
Talks over resuming the halted 2019-20 campaign are ongoing, with Premier League clubs discussing the latest 'Project Restart' proposals during the latest virtual meeting of shareholders on Monday.
Convincing players that it is safe for football to return is obviously an absolutely critical factor in those plans, with the captains from all 20 Premier League clubs set to dial into an important conference call on Wednesday.
Many players have publicly voiced fears over plans to return and on Sunday Brighton revealed that a third player at the club had tested positive for Covid-19 and would now enter a 14-day period of self-isolation.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Wednesday's meeting, long-time PFA boss Taylor stressed the importance of striking a balance between safety and starting to get things back to normal.
"It's never easy when we've had over six weeks of being told to stay inside, and the next minutes it's the start of what's being perceived as the easing of these restrictions," Taylor said.
"The players don't want to be seen as guinea pigs and that will apply to everyone in professional sport.
"It's about getting the balance of safety and also trying to get back to normality as much as possible."
Last week, a study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) outlined the heightened risk of dying from coronavirus for people from black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) communities.
"We need to make sure our BAME players are properly protected if there is an incidence of higher rates with those players," Taylor said.
"We need to give everyone confidence that every single safety measure has been taken on their behalf."
