8 Chelsea players are reported to be in quarantine after six of them were tested positive to the coronavirus, after returning from their vacation across Europe.
According to reports, Chelsea confirmed that a number of their players have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in quarantine to limit the threat of further spreading among the squad.
The 8 Chelsea players rumoured to have been in self-isolation are Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic and Fikayo Tomori after they were pictured on holiday on the Greek island of Mykonos before pre-season training began last weekend.
Jorginho, Ross Barkley, Emerson and Michy Batshuayi are also reported to be staying away from Chelsea’s Cobham base.
It is not known which of the players have tested positive. The Telegraph report that 8 Chelsea players are in isolation, while six players have the virus and a further two are quarantining because of close contact with those affected.
The players all underwent coronavirus tests at the end of last week ahead of their planned return to pre-season training. But as a result of the need to quarantine, a number of Chelsea players have yet to report back to the club’s Cobham HQ.
Abraham and Mount are in Gareth Southgate’s England squad and their quarantine period may offer the Three Lions a headache with their Nations League tie away at Iceland coming up next Saturday.
Midfielder Barkley, who was left out of Southgate’s squad through injury, has also been pictured in Mykonos.
The 26-year-old had been pictured at the island’s SantAnna Beach Club – where Abraham and Tomori had also been seen.
Dimitris Christoforidis, owner of SantAnna confirmed to MailOnline that the Chelsea players visited the club a number of times last week.
He said: ‘I went over to say hello and made sure they were being properly looked after.
‘They were going out a lot to bars, clubs and restaurants where there are other people and places are not properly ventilated.
‘I have no concerns about my club. It’s open air, on the beach and we have no enclosed inside spaces. There are also 55 bathrooms, many only for use by our exclusive guests.
‘I’m not worried at all that they may have caught coronavirus here.’
Jorginho took his holiday in Capri, Italy, while Batshuayi has been in Cannes, France.
None of them are back in first-season training. Chelsea play their first match of pre-season away at Brighton on Saturday before opening the new Premier League campaign against the same opponents on September 14.
Before Chelsea’s players underwent their checks it emerged last week that there had been a sharp rise in cases across the league following players’ summer breaks.
Fourteen positive tests were recorded at 12 different clubs who returned to pre-season training at the start of last week, including Sheffield United, West Ham and Brighton.
Mykonos has proven to be a go-to hotspot for Premier League footballers this summer as an alternative to the usual haunts of Las Vegas, Ibiza and Marbella – all locations where the Foreign Office advise against all non-essential travel.
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was handed a 21-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday after being found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery following a fracas on the Greek island of Mykonos last week.