Tyrone Mings, from Aston Villa, believes the return of the Premier League is driven by money.
Mings told the Daily Mail: “Project Restart is financially driven. I think everybody accepts that.
“But that’s fine with me because I look at this monster that is Premier League football and the revenue it creates and I didn’t moan about being a part of it when everything was great so I’m not going to moan now when the atmosphere around the game is more hesitant.
“I am all for playing again because we have no other choice.”
The UK government says professional sport will return from Monday behind closed doors. The Premier League is set to resume on 17 June after the coronavirus pandemic ended in March.
Villa is set to start against Sheffield United on June 17, their game in hand, and Mings is ready to go for the second-bottom side of Dean Smith.
“I would be lying if I said it had never crossed my mind that we might be relegated without kicking another ball,” Mings said. “What player wants to be relegated with 10 games left while also having a game in hand?”
The top-flight has performed 3,882 virus checks on players and club staff over four rounds of research.
From the first three rounds, there were 12 positive results, but there was an all-clear from the fourth screening session featuring 1,130 players and club staff tests.
For the most recent series of assessments at Premier League clubs, there have been no clear findings.
The defender of England also said players were the last to be consulted on the coming back plans for the top flight:
“As players, we were the last people to be consulted about Project Restart and that is because of where we fall in football’s order of priority. That isn’t a problem.
“We got the option to come back to training and that’s fine because we didn’t have to but if the FA and the EFL and the government and UEFA and the Premier League all say you are going back to play, it really doesn’t make any difference what the players think because you’re going back to play.”
