West Ham defender Aaron Cresswell has admitted that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has left him “petrified” for the safety of his newborn daughter.
The 30-year-old left-back and his Hammers’ team-mates have been following individual fitness and nutrition programmes from their homes since the decision to bring football in England to a halt during the middle of March.
Although the Premier League had previously set a return date of April 30, it was announced on Friday that the season has been suspended indefinitely and would not resume until it is “safe and appropriate to do so”.
Cresswell, whose second child Sadie was born just before the escalation of the crisis in the UK, agrees that there should be no rush to restart the campaign.
“At the start, I don’t think anyone realised how serious it was,” he told the club’s official website before the suspension was extended on Friday.
“Once we played the Arsenal game, football came to a stop after Mikel Arteta was tested, and it came back positive. Their squad went into isolation and then that was pretty much it. There was no other option. Football had to be suspended.
“The most important thing is everyone’s health and wellbeing. Football can wait. Simple as that.
“I’ve got a baby daughter and she is five weeks’ old and, I’ll be honest, I’m petrified.”
The Premier League has regularly highlighted its intention to ensure the 2019/2020 campaign is completed and reiterated that stance on Friday.
“In my opinion, I think there has been a lot of talk about how quick we can get football back, but the main focus should be on people’s health and staying indoors,” Cresswell added.
“Of course, we're all missing it but there is a whole bigger picture than a game of football and I believe once all this has blown over, we can get back up and running.”
