- Nabeel
Preston North End friendly set for closed doors
Manchester City's pre-season game against Preston North End at the Academy Stadium is set to have plans for spectators scrapped following the number of positive COVID-19 cases from an academy training camp reaching double figures last week.
Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News has revealed that City have decided not to place tickets on sale for the Preston North End friendly scheduled for July 27th (Tuesday) at 19:00 (BST) in an attempt to protect the new bubble of returning players and staff.
Pep Guardiola, Fernandinho, Riyad Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy, Scott Carson, Philippe Sandler, Yan Couto, Pablo Moreno, Shea Charles, Diego Rosa, and Ben Knight have been captured by City's cameras in the first training sessions of the new season, with additional players also thought of as being present despite not being snapped by club photographers.
On July 14th, Bajkowski reported that City had to move a group of around 50 players and staff from the Under-18s and the Under-23s from a pre-season schedule in Loughborough back to the City Football Academy – after a number of the players tested positive for COVID-19.
Two days later, Bajkowski informed that the club had closed their academy building for ten days after further testing had revealed that the number of people that had tested positive had reached double figures – adding that those who did not have to self-isolate were told to seek a PCR test, stay away from the complex, and work from home for the necessary time.
Last week, when City announced their pre-season games against North End and ES Troyes AC, they stated that the game against the Championship side could be followed with CITY+, which is the club's content streaming service.
A lot more of us will be needing one of those now.
Written by: @NA1907_
Follow our Twitter account for reliable, live updates on all the latest news surrounding this story and everything Manchester City in real time.