The Premier League could be set to release some of the funds that would have been handed out to clubs at the end of the season.
According to a report by The Times, this could be done in order to help counter some of their financial difficulties clubs are facing because of the coronavirus crisis.
It is claimed that the Premier League’s 20 clubs reached an agreement last week that would see them receive the normal merit payments based on final league positions given to them before the end of the 2019/20 season.
The money is based on a sliding scale, with clubs at the summit receiving over £20million and the numbers then decreased further down the Premier League ladder.
Although, of course, the final league positions for this season are not yet concluded, with the Premier League and all clubs determined to complete the campaign to avoid the risk of losing out on big-money TV deals, it would be possible to determine the area that most teams will finish in with just nine fixtures remaining for most of the league’s clubs.
Last week, football right across England was suspended indefinitely, with it being confirmed that football will not resume until early May, at the very earliest.
However, it appears as though it will either be in June or July when the season resumes, at the earliest, as the UK Government are more than likely to extend the current lockdown rules.
On Wednesday evening, Premier League players launched the #PlayersTogether campaign to help generate and distribute funds to the NHS following successful talks between them over the past week.
In full, their statement read: “Over the course of the last week we, as a group of Premier League players, have held numerous talks together with the vision of creating a contribution fund that can be used to distribute money to where it's needed most in this COVID-19 crisis; helping those fighting for us on the NHS frontline as well as other key areas of need.
"This is a critical time for our country and for our NHS, and we are determined to help in any way that we can."
