With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and Germany, global football is currently on pause. The Premier League has been given the all clear by the government to restart sometime in June, with matches being played behind closed doors, and training, albeit in small groups only, has resumed.
Still plenty of questions as Project Restart moves along, and we’ll learn more as the days go by. Until football returns, we do actually have plenty of news items to cover. So let’s take a spin through some what the Chelsea FC community is talking about in cyberspace right now.
We start with an update on Chelsea’s most important and best player, arguably. Midfielder N’Golo Kante missed training yesterday and today due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. His absence came with the full backing of the club, including manager Frank Lampard.
They are sympathetic to his virus related fears and he was reportedly granted compassionate leave.” According to multiple outlets, there is no definitive time table for the French international’s return at this time. The Independent has more.
Elsewhere NBC Sports made an extensive list of who the primary celebrity supporters are for each club, and they kind of buried the lead on this one. They do have a Chelsea supporter for the featured image, but it’s of NFL star JJ Watt. Their list (Chelsea section is cited below) is of course not full and complete, but that’s because it’s just plain impossible the make one that truly is.
There’s a theme here of course; and it gels with the Lion symbol of the club.
Chelsea
• Kate Middleton
• Ed Sheeran
• Sir Michael Caine
• Justin Rose
• Sir Richard Attenborough
• Will Ferrell
• Sir Steve Redgrave
• J.J. Watt
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Natalie Dormer
• Larry Nance Jr
You have a royal in Kate Middleton, plus three men who have been knighted, and no other team on their list comes even close to having that many.
Finally, the Olivier Giroud extension that we all knew had been coming is now confirmed. Chelsea will need to find a better option as a second striker, of course, but it will have to wait for now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.